They say it takes a village to raise a child and right now one of our own could use your help. While other parents are readjusting and getting back to the school year routine, one Pasco mother is emotionally mourning her 16-month-old daughter’s failing heart, just after receiving the diagnosis from a genetics test: restrictive cardiomyopathy. Click here to donate: HERE

Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body and in Kenzie’s case, requires a heart transplant. A child’s heartbeat is one of the first ways a mother feels connected with her unborn child, a special moment for families to hear the sound of unconditional love. This family will have to create a new bond with this donated heart when the time comes, a challenge they are more than willing to welcome in order to save Kenzie’s life. According to the Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Registry, one in every 100,000 children in the U.S. under the age of 18 is diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, with the majority of diagnosed children under 12 months of age.

Baby Kenzie should be at home with her family; playing with her two-year-old brother; listening to her 13-year-old sister read to her; getting tucked in at night by her mommy and daddy. Instead, she’s been in the hospital since July 29^th, her parents alternating work schedules to ensure she is never alone at All Children’s Hospital in St Petersburg as they wait for a heart to become available. Kenzie’s family is having to wait for another family to go through an unimaginable tragedy in order to save her life.

While insurance is covering her ICU stay and future heart transplant, it isn’t covering the missed wages as her parents sacrifice time at work to be with Kenzie. Kenzie’s siblings are staying with family members while her parents give her all the comforts and attention they possibly can. No parent should be sitting at work while their baby is in a hospital bed. This is where our community steps in: Kenzie and her family need help covering bills during this unimaginable time; the family and medical team need your prayers for strength, healing, love, and support; and the donor family needs your prayers, too, as no parent should have to say goodbye to their child. Click here to donate and click here to Follow Kenzie’s story.