Hello!

My name is Oliwia. When I was born, I weighed 770 grams, measured 33 cm, and scored a happy 7 points on the Apgar scale. 😁 Even though I'm saying hello to you only today, I've been in this world since December 19, 2022, at 10:09. But my story began much earlier, back in my mom's belly.

From the very beginning, I had an unwelcome guest beside me – a nasty blood clot taking up space. It spread so much that it eventually took half of my mom's belly. 😡 We bravely fought it under the guidance of Dr. Andrzej, but mom kept bleeding. That's when I said ENOUGH. I decided to kick its butt. I kicked and kicked until it finally gave in. But maybe I kicked too hard because mom's placenta started detaching 😓, and we had to stay in the hospital 🏥.

There, we came under the care of Uncle Krzysztof. I was only 17 weeks in the belly then. We remember Uncle's pale, frightened face when he first saw one of mom's bleeds 😱 and the same astonished face 😲 when he saw on the ultrasound that I was alive and doing well. 😎 That's when he realized we weren't ordinary patients and joined our fight 🤜🤛. We fought for weeks for every day in mom's belly 🤰🏼, overcoming more bleeds. We remember Uncle Krzysztof reassuring scared nurse aunties at the sight of blood, saying, "This lady didn't miscarry, she's just like that." 😅

They sent us to the delivery room three times, and three times we returned, until COVID came... 😢 And even though we beat it, mom's body couldn't feed me anymore. We went to the delivery room for the fourth time. Uncle pulled out the last card from his sleeve. He gave mom medicine to give her strength for two more days, so I could grow a bit more, and for the lung medicine to fully take effect. Every hour counted 🕰.

And so, on December 19, 2022, the final bell rang. I was born at 10:09 and went to the incubator under the care of Aunt Marta from OION. I was only 25 weeks and 1 day old. From then on, I had to fight alone, and mom and dad could only cheer me on. But I knew I was strong and could do it! 💪

I underwent two surgeries. One for my eyes due to stage III retinopathy, and the other for giant bilateral inguinal hernias, which hurt a lot. 😢

Today, I'm already at home with mom, dad, and my little brother! 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

But this is not the end of my fight. I underwent two surgeries due to premature closure of cranial sutures 💀, a condition called craniosynostosis. The next surgery will be again for my eyes, this time due to strabismus. Let's hope that after this surgery, I'll see the world because right now, everything is blurry and fuzzy. 😞 Not even new glasses helped because I still don't know how my mom, dad, and my older brother look. 😢 We are working hard on my eyes with various lights 🔦 in expensive sessions, hoping they will help me learn to see.

I know my parents worry a lot about this. I feel it when they tell me everything will be fine and that they'll help me. 🥺 But I also hear them sometimes talking about being afraid of what will happen if they run out of money for my daily therapies and treatments, which increase with every new diagnosis. They worry that I won't have a chance for a normal life then. 😭

I don't want them to worry about that, so I'm asking for your help. Become my guardian angels 👼 and let us not worry about funds for treatment and rehabilitation. Every penny counts.

We fight together! 👊

Courageous preemie - Oliwia