Josie?s Journey ?

On March 22, 2026, we met our daughter, Josette ?Josie.?

We knew she had congenital diaphragmatic hernia. We thought we understood what we were facing.

We didn?t.

We didn?t know until she was born that her CDH was right-sided. We didn?t know she had heterotaxy or an interrupted IVC.

We learned because our daughter was critically ill?and there was no time to prepare.

When Josie needed ECMO, her anatomy made the usual approach impossible. Her doctors had to try a femoral cannula, knowing there was no guarantee it would work.

They had to try anyway.

And it did.

We believe Hashem made a way when there wasn?t supposed to be one.

Josie spent 10 days on ECMO?10 days with a machine helping keep our baby?s heart and lungs alive. Ten days of praying, waiting, crying, hoping, and wondering if we?d get to take our daughter home.

And somehow, by the grace of Hashem, she came off.

She survived.

She survived surgery to repair her diaphragm. She survived having organs that belonged in her abdomen living inside her tiny chest. She survived setback after setback.

We have watched miracles happen in front of us.

Not always the big, obvious miracles.

Sometimes the miracle was simply that she was still here.

Sometimes it was a number moving in the right direction.

A medication finally coming down.

A few more hours without paralysis.

Her oxygen recovering.

Her body tolerating another feed.

Another morning where we got to walk into her room and say, ?Good morning, Josie.?

But surviving ECMO wasn?t the end of her fight.

Her lungs were severely affected, and she developed severe, refractory pulmonary hypertension. Months later, she is still in the hospital.

Still on a ventilator.

Still dependent on medications and machines to help her body do things most babies get to do without thinking.

Still fighting.

We?ve watched our daughter come terrifyingly close to death more times than parents should ever have to.

We?ve watched her numbers crash.

We?ve watched her oxygen disappear.

We?ve watched her blood pressure soar.

We?ve watched something as ordinary as a bowel movement send her tiny body into a terrifying response.

And through every one of those moments, we?ve prayed.

We?ve begged Hashem for another day.

Another breath.

Another miracle.

And somehow, He keeps giving us our girl.

There is no way to tell Josie?s story without talking about the miracles that have carried her here.

We know how close we?ve come to losing her.

We know how many things had to go right for her to still be here.

We know that medicine has done extraordinary things for our daughter?and we also know Who we believe gave her doctors the wisdom, gave her body the strength, and opened the doors that needed to open.

Josie is here because she is a fighter, because incredible people have fought for her, and because we have been blessed with miracle after miracle.

While other parents are watching their babies learn to roll, laugh, and reach for their toes, we?ve been watching monitors and learning medical terminology we never wanted to know.

We?ve spent months living beside a hospital bed instead of in our own home.

We?ve put work, finances, plans, and normal life on hold because Josie needs us here.

And the hardest part is that we still don?t know when we?re going home.

We don?t know how many more setbacks are ahead.

We don?t know how long this fight will last.

But we know this:

Hashem has carried us this far.

And we believe He isn?t finished with Josie?s story.

Josie has fought through more than any baby ever should.

Now she?s fighting for something that seems so simple, yet feels so far away:

the chance to come home.

We need to be there to advocate for her, support her, and make sure her needs are heard every step of the way.

Your support helps us remain close to Josie instead of being forced to be away from her while she continues fighting in the hospital. It helps us create a safe, loving place for her to return to when that day finally comes.

We don?t want anything extravagant.

We want our daughter home.

We want to hold her without hospital wires between us.

We want to put her in her own bed.

We want to wake up and realize we don?t have to drive to the hospital because she?s already home.

That day can feel impossibly far away.

But then we remember everything she?s already survived.

Ten days on ECMO.

A surgery she wasn?t supposed to have to survive.

An anatomy we didn?t even know she had.

A body that has repeatedly been pushed beyond what we thought it could endure.

And somehow, she?s still here.

Our girl is still fighting.

And we are going to keep fighting with her.

We trust in Hashem.

We pray for His continued protection over our daughter.

And we are asking our community to help us carry the weight of this journey.

If you can donate, you are helping us stay beside Josie.

If you can?t, please share her story. Say her name. Pray for her.

Every donation.

Every share.

Every prayer.

Every person who believes in our little girl.

It all matters.

We don?t know what the next miracle will look like.

We just know we?ve already been blessed with so many.

And we are praying for the biggest one yet:

Josie coming home. ?

#LONGLIVEJOSIE #JosiesJourney