As writen by Iliana's mother:

Iliana is a gift that was given to us on September 17, 2004. She was born via an emergency c-section due to low amniotic fluid. Having been on bed rest for 6 weeks prior to her birth, we knew to expect her birth to be sudden. What we did not know was the journey that we were about to begin. Prior to her birth Iliana had been diagnosed with mild ventriculomegally, meaning that of the four ventricals in the brain she had one that was dilated larger than the norm. The effect of this on her quality of life was unknown. Shortly after her birth Iliana was also diagnosed with Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn (PPHN) and spent the first 5 weeks of life in the NICU. At this point, we truly felt that the worst was behind us and we could now return to our “normal” lives. However, Iliana was hospitalized many times in her first year of life, she also was not developing normally and not reaching milestones. She was termed “floppy”. At about 8months of age, she was also diagnosed with a seizure disorder. By her first birthday, Iliana could not hold her head up, roll over, talk, etc.

Although she has been followed by several doctors, there is no rhyme or reason found by any of them, so she is termed as “developmentally delayed”. The only encouragement offered to us was that we should pursue physical therapy to try and help her take the steps necessary to advance physically and improve her quality of life.

My husband, Dwight, began searching on the internet, trying to find a solution, something that would help our baby girl advance physically. He came across Therapies 4 Kids in Lauderdale by the Sea, FL. In January 2006, through the wonderful support of people that love her, we were able to provide Iliana with 3 weeks of intensive therapy through Therapies for Kids. Their program consists of compressing 7 ½ months of traditional therapy into 3 weeks of intensive therapy, allowing children with physical challenges such as Iliana’s the opportunity to advance at a greater speed than through traditional means. It was a tremendous blessing for Iliana to have had that opportunity. Although Iliana has certainly gotten much stronger, she is still not able to crawl, walk, or sit herself up. Since then, Iliana has also been diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea. She needs to be on a BiPap machine each night to help her breath comfortably and provide her body the rest it needs.

Although we have been faced with many difficulties and uncertainties with Iliana these past two years, the joy God has given us through her life is much greater. Through God, she has overcome obstacles prior to her birth and after. He has used her to teach us the meaning of faith and to trust Him even though the circumstances may not have been pleasant. Most recently, Iliana has gained a good amount of weight and is finally over 20 pounds. She is able to support her head much better, rolls around, is babbling non stop at times, and is also able to scoot around a room. We are in the middle of raising funds again in order to return to Therapies 4 Kids. We believe we will really see an improvement in her the second time around because of the improvement she has shown these last few months. During her first trip to therapy she was very weak and we had to focus on strengthening her body. Now, she is much stronger and we believe that through this intensive therapy program, we could one day see her take her first steps. Thank you for helping us to provide our baby girl with this life changing therapy.