Sophia was born on July 2, 2004. She arrived into this world very quickly with calmness and beauty. Cute as a button and weighing in at 5lbs 7oz, she was definitely a little peanut. Rob and I just cried, laughed and enjoyed every 1st moment of little Sophia's 1st breaths. Every day we were wondering when the hard part of parenting would come. Sophia was always such a predictable baby. She only cried when she was hungry or tired. She loved life, and we loved sharing life with her.

On March 23, 2005, Sophia vomited after her morning bottle. We got her dressed for school as usual and when dropping her off at school told the teachers that she had been sick that morning and if she wasn't herself, to call. I received a phone call by 10:30am that morning that she vomited again and had diarrhea. I picked her up, brought her home and started her on Pedialyte at the doctor's recommendation. She napped as normal and then just wanted to be held most of the rest of the day. She continued on the Pedialyte for the rest of the day and went to bed at 7:00pm as normal. She fussed a few times in the night, but nothing that her binky didn't soothe. It was 7:30am on March 24, 2005 and Sophia was still sleeping. I was planning on keeping her home that day in order for her belly to feel better. I went into her room to get her up and start her day and there I found her. The minute I saw her, call it mother's instinct, I knew something was wrong. We rushed her to the local emergency room, not waiting to call an ambulance. It was there that the doctors diagnosed her with severe dehydration and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). They transferred her to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where they thought she would just be overnight and be back to herself the next day. After a series of tests at CHOP, the doctors later that evening told us that Sophia had suffered significant brain damage, probably sometime in the night caused by seizures from a lack of oxygen to her brain. We held onto hope the entire time she was in the hospital. We slept in Sophia's room every night, thinking that tomorrow will be the day she comes around. The tests became decreasingly hopeful everyday. The neurologist finally delivered the news we were not prepared to accept. The entire front of her brain, the part that controls everything she would be, talking, personality, laughter, thinking, motor skills, was dead. The only thing that was working properly was her brain stem, which controls breathing and heart rate. Sophia's brain injury and prognosis was very grave. Sophia was a fighter, up until the very end. She didn't want to leave us, just like we didn't want her to go. Sophia left this earth went to heaven early in the morning of April 1, 2005.

Though Sophia is gone from this world, her memory will live on forever in the hearts of those who knew and loved her. She truly was a living angel. We hold onto a hope that we will find some brightness again in our lives and maybe be blessed again with the type of love that we knew from Sophia.

Unfortunately, the doctors are unable to determine at this time a final diagnosis as to why this tragedy occurred despite the countless tests being run. At one point, they were certain Sophia had a metabolic disorder called Fatty Acid Oxidation (FAOD) (for more information, please visit, www.fodsupport.org) that caused the lack of oxygen to her brain. We hold out hope that we will soon have an answer as to why this tragedy occurred.