Winter Garden Magazine June 2015 | Page 38

Brielle Marie – A Beautiful Little Girl with the Heart of a Warrior by Stefanie Perez (Brielle’s mom) grown around the fat. Two weeks later, we were back in the hospital and admitted for spinal surgery.  Brielle with WG residents Uncle Paulo Ricardo, Aunt Natalia Lass and Grandmother Sara Acosta. Brielle was born June 6, 2010 – she arrived a month early, but her birth was a normal one and she came ready to take on the world at a tiny healthy five pounds!  A few months after she was born, I started to notice she would do things other babies wouldn’t that were her same age and she would cry when we would enter stores or there would be too much going on around her.  I started to take her to our Doctor – he did not seemed concerned at all and told me to stop comparing my child to others! For a quick second in the world I listened, but not for long. I knew my daughter was extra special and needed some help. She never tried to crawl or pull herself up, Brielle never interacted with anyone or anything and poor thing was always sick. 38  a penny!!! Brielle had a procedure done to have it removed and then spent a week in the hospital due to the penny causing damage to the lining of her throat (which is fine now). While we were there, the head pediatrician on the floor kept watching Brielle. After 2 days, he came in and started to ask me questions on her habits. He then asked if he could bring the head of Neurosurgery to just take a look. The amount of joy that flooded me I will never be able to explain, I looked at Dr. Cruze and I said “You see it too, there is something off!”   I took Brielle to one specialist and another, to different doctors and had different tests and blood work done. Finally her insurance contacted me and told me they would no longer cover anything other than normal check-ups, and that I needed to stop looking for something to be wrong with my child! I wanted to dig a hole and crawl in it. Bo