From the moment their daughter Olivia was born, Alejandro and Diane Llamas’ lives became an unexpected emotional whirlwind. “When Olivia was delivered, she didn’t cry like normal babies, and her coloring was bluish-gray,” Diane recalls. “Her nurses quickly realized her heart wasn’t beating, and immediately began performing CPR on her. Then, a nurse asked me if I wanted a priest to baptize Olivia. It was in this state of utter shock and disbelief that I realized my baby was dying.”

“Her doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Olivia, so they called Children’s Hospital of Orange County, where CHOC neonatologists diagnosed her over the phone,” Diane continues.

Olivia’s condition was difficult to detect in newborns and impossible to prevent. Her blood vessels had not properly developed in one chamber of her heart. Blood was being pumped into her lungs, but it wasn’t being pumped out.
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