MIAMI (WSVN) - A Central Florida toddler who underwent a liver transplant in Miami is heading home after spending more than eight months in the pediatric intensive care unit.
Video provided by Jackson Health System captured caregivers serenading Danilia with children’s songs.
The 16-month-old spent 266 days in the PICU at Holtz Children’s Hospital, but this week, she was all smiles.
It’s a happy occasion for her entire family. Danilia received a new liver just days before her parents’ wedding.
The toddler, who lives in Orlando, had fought a long battle with liver disease and needed a liver transplant to save her life.
“She’s a miracle,” said her mother, Jennifer Coto.
When Danilia’s mother was just six months pregnant, the baby was born prematurely and diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening liver disease that only shows up in infants.
“Her whole life, we’ve always been told, ‘She may not make it, she may not make it,'” said Coto.
While waiting for a donor in South Florida, Danilia’s kidneys were failing. Her chance of survival was less than 72 hours.
“Danilia was very, very ill. Because of her [gastrointestinal] bleed, she needed a lot of transfusion,” said Dr. Asumthia Jeyapalan, a pediatric critical care specialist at Holtz Children’s Hospital. “Because she was small, she didn’t handle fluid, and she needed to be intubated and put on a ventilator in order to help with her breathing.”
As the girl’s body was breaking down, a liver arrived, and she underwent the 12-hour transplant surgery.
“It’s been up and down, a lot of difficult times, but it was a miracle after miracle,” said Danilia’s father, Daniel Aquino.
It was a slow recovery, but after 10 months in the hospital, Danilia is ready to go home.
Before sending her back into the world, a big family of doctors and nurses who helped save her life gave her a music-filled send-off.
Doctors at Holtz Children’s Hospital and Jackson Health said Danilia will have a full recovery and hopefully a very long life.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.