20150925JR017
Published on February 4th, 2016 by user.
Gloria Schmucker, 3, with her mother Marlene at their home in Franklin, KY. Gloria was born premature at 31 weeks while her mom was visiting family in Virginia. She was born with esophageal atresia, where the esophagus doesn’t close and there is a gap preventing a child from eating, drinking, swallowing saliva. She was brought to Children’s Hospital at two days old to have surgery and spent five months in our NICU. Now, she is an active 3 1/2 year old in preschool who loves to read and to play with her baby brother (John Russell/Vanderbilt University)
