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Baby expected to leave hospital after year
Parents of a girl born prematurely are thankful that she may get to be home before Christmas after spending months in the hospital. Her treatment was made possible through donations UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital receives through the annual Giving Tuesday program.
OAKLAND, Calif. - This Giving Tuesday, KTVU partnered once again with UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals to raise money for Bay Area children and their families.
From pacifiers, to music therapy, your money ensures families don't have to pay for critical services for children like Avah Hernandez.
The six-month-old is currently in the NICU at Children’s Hospital Oakland, where her parents, Clara and Mario Hernandez, visit her every day.
"I feel a sense of joy, sense of purpose and sense of happiness," Mario Hernandez said of fatherhood. "When it comes to tummy time, she's turning her head a lot. She's able to track people, she hears noise."
Clara Hernandez said they are amazed every single day by how far she and they have come.
In May, the woman went into labor shortly after the halfway point of pregnancy. Avah was born at 23 weeks and four days at a hospital in Modesto.
Highlighting UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital's life-saving work
On this Giving Tuesday we’re highlighting the life-saving care provided by UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals.
"There was a chance that she technically had a 30 percent chance [of life] as we've read," Clara Hernandez said.
Born at 530 grams, which is equivalent to roughly a pound and two ounces, Avah was a micro preemie.
Two weeks later, a brain scan would reveal excess fluid in the ventricles of Avah's brain. She was airlifted to Children's Hospital Oakland.
"She was diagnosed with hydrocephalus... the retaining of fluids in the brain," the infant's mother said. "The fluid around the outside of the brain was building up."
Avah has had three surgeries. In the final surgery, a doctor implanted a shunt in her brain to drain away excess fluid to another part of her body where it can then be reabsorbed into her bloodstream.
"Since then, it's been working amazing," Clara Hernandez said. "Developmentally she's up to speed."
The Hernandez family is especially thankful for care, their stay nearby, the clothes, toys and books that were all made possible by donations. The music therapy provided by Rebecca Hames is one of their favorites.
"I’m working on matching her breathing and how quickly she's sucking on her pacifier, bring it down so she relaxes and can go to sleep," Hames said.
Hames, a board-certified music therapist for 10 years, has spent the last year at UCSF.
"My position is funded through the music therapy fund and it's the first time this NICU has had full time hours," she said. "Being able to get to do this every day has been a real dream and really fulfilling professionally."
It's staffers like Hames, along with the doctors and nurses, who have given the Hernandez family emotional support, that make them feel like they're among family. They've helped Avah thrive into a happy, healthy, and feisty six-month-old, who will be heading home soon for the first time.
Both parents are extremely grateful.
"This hospital has given us so much, not only our baby, but for our family and if she wasn't in this hospital at that very moment, we don't know if she would be here or not," Mario said.
Every donation on Giving Tuesday 2023 goes directly to help families. You can text KTVU to 5155 if you’d like to donate or click here to donate.