SAN ANTONIO — Ana Chavez says that, when she met her adopted daughter for the first time, it was love at first sight
“I don’t know how else to explain it, except that mother's intuition kicked in and she just grabbed my heart,” Chavez said.
Chavez is a nurse and worked in the NICU at the time. Due to complications during the pregnancy, Natalie was born with special needs, and her mother felt like she could not take care of her.
After working with Natalie in the NICU for a few months, Ana and her husband, Adrian, decided they wanted to give Natalie a home. But then came some devastating news.
“Her neurologist says, 'I really don’t think she’ll make it past six months,'" Chavez said.
Five years later, Natalie is doing a lot better. Her parents say she’s an amazing, and happy child.
“We were told she’s not going to be able to hear, see, walk; she just learned how to walk this year. So she’s walking with assistance. She’s learning how to eat and taste. We’ve been able to be out of a hospital for almost a year,” Chavez said.
While Natalie is doing much better, there is an opportunity at a feeding clinic in Baltimore
"Watching my baby learn how to walk and is now working with speech, those are miracles we live by every day,” Chavez said.
But their insurance won’t cover therapy sessions at the clinic. So, they’re trying to raise $200,000 to cover the cost.
“It’s okay to ask for help. That’s what we’ve learned because we’ve needed help and have been blessed to have help,” Adrian Chavez said.
If you’d like to help this family, click here to go to their GoFundMe page.