Hello, dear people!

I would like to tell you the story of little, struggling Amaya.

I will start from the day of her birth. A day on which, like all fathers who are expecting a child, I was standing outside the hospital, waiting impatiently for my first-born daughter to be born. And waited, and waited...and waited.

I waited for hours until my wife called to say :"There was a problem at the birth". I was in shock, I didn't know where I was. I asked her, "Is everything ok ?" She told me that while she was giving birth naturally, the fetus started to struggle and had to be delivered by section. Without more information, we had to wait 12 hours until we finally saw Amaya.

As any dad of a daughter can confirm, it was the best day of his life. We were discharged a few days later and took her home.

2 months passed and one day my wife felt Amaya was not breathing well, not well at all. They both went to the GP who referred them to another doctor whose opinion was "bronchiolitis". From there they were taken by ambulance to Alexandrovska Hospital, where she had an x-ray at night.

From there they found with horror that it was not the lungs that were affected but, the heart. The heart had enlarged. From there they were rushed to the National Cardiology Hospital.

Shortly after their arrival at the hospital, my wife called and said:

"Amaya is very unwell, they said to expect the worst".

My mind could not contain it. I mean, we were literally playing carefree until yesterday and today...:"Expect the worst".

But Amaya survived, didn't give up the little fighter and was discharged after weeks of therapy. The diagnosis was "Dilated cardiomyopathy. High-grade mitral insufficiency."

Her attending cardiologist prescribed 5 types of drug therapy and said the chance of her heart improving was slim to none. Time passed and it was time for our little one to go in for a checkup where the same cardiologist exclaimed, "There is improvement in her heart function".

The guy couldn't believe his eyes, he was of the opinion that despite the severe diagnosis with a good balanced diet and if he wasn't sick the prognosis was optimistic. (But what child isn't sick? What child can be housebound permanently?)

And so Amaya grew and despite her low weight,she never stopped running,jumping,singing and playing from morning to night...until trouble happened.

On 12.02.2024 around 4:00pm Amaya while playing,vomited and then had a fainting spell. It wasn't the first time a child had vomited (what child doesn't vomit) and we figured maybe she had eaten something that irritated her tummy. By 9:00 p.m. she was throwing up again and that was a sign to us that something was wrong.It was obvious that her heartbeat had changed.

We immediately rushed her to the NICU where she was admitted to ICU with my wife and I left.

It was 2:00am and my wife texted me, "Amaya is all bruised and barely breathing..she is dying".

My wife witnessed the child struggling to catch her breath and stood by her side throughout the evening. In the morning she called me to go and collect her and when I went I saw her in tears standing outside the hospital. She told me, "The only thing the doctors can do is intubate her, that her heart has gotten pretty bad" and to expect the worst.

I had remembered from Amaya's first stay that if we got a call from the hospital it meant she was in a bad way...and so it was.The phone rang at noon and from there we heard the words, "Come to the hospital, the ward manager wants to talk to you". It's one of those moments in a person's life that I can't explain in words. Expecting the worst, we headed to the hospital and when we arrived at the office my wife and I held hands. The doctor looked at us and said, "The child is in very serious condition, do you have any other children? The chances of her surviving are minimal, we will put her on a temporary pacemaker as the only option...if she survives the surgery."

And despite all the prognoses, the little fighter endured. A temporary pacemaker was put in her, but overall the heart was severely damaged with complete AV block, which they explained to us was the first time they had seen in a patient with this diagnosis.

The little struggler fought for a week and today on 19.02.2024 she had a permanent pacemaker fitted and her heart remains severely damaged. Blood pumping to the body is not at full volume. Her condition can only worsen with each passing day, which is why she remains in intensive care for observation.

This is the end of little Amaya's treatment in Bulgaria. The only chance is a new heart transplant.

Amaya survived despite all the negative prognoses, despite the words, "Expect the worst", We believe that a miracle will happen and we will be able to find her a new heart.

Amaya needs you dear people, your help for a normal childhood life full of games. We pray from the bottom of our hearts for your help to heal our daughter.

Be well.Thank you!