Alexis "Lexi" Leann Flores was born on May 21, 2008. From the very start Lexi proved to be a fighter. Lexi was born with Esophageal Atresia, which means she was born without an esophagus. In 18 short months, Lexi underwent 24 surgeries and procedures. Considering everything she had been through, Lexi DIDN'T KNOW she was sick. She was the happiest baby, with a smile that would bring a grown man to his knees, and she was always smiling.
Lexi had major surgery on November 9, 2009. The first in several steps to fix her esophagus. After a 5 day hospital stay, she was doing great, and we went home. Lexi was back to her old self in no time.
On December 3, 2009 (less than a month after her surgery) her therapist came out. The first line of her notes from that day was "Saw Alexis at her home, she is energetic and seems to have recovered fully..." Life was good. December 4Th (Friday) was just a normal day around our house. Lexi went down for a nap around 7pm. We woke her up at 9pm to feed her (she was fed through a tube). When we woke her up, she was very lethargic and didn't want to wake up. Just to be safe, we decided to take her to the emergency room. We walked into the ER at Texas Children's Hospital at 10:01pm. And 6 hours and 40 minutes later, at 4:41am on December 5, 2009, our precious Lexi was gone. They said she had pneumonia. My husband and I watched them perform CPR on her for over 4 hours. Her little heart would start again, but within a few minutes it would stop again.
With all the hospital stays, between feeding myself while I stayed with her, parking and all the little expenses, it was tough. And then when she passed, not only were we grieving the loss of our precious child, we had to worry about paying for a funeral. When parents are going through the toughest time in their lives, money SHOULD NOT have to add stress to an already stressful situation. They need to concentrate on helping their little one get well, or if the worst happens, grieve for their child. One of the things I remember most when she was in and out of the hospital was the incredible feeling of loneliness. To have someone to talk to, to have someone say "we have been there, you are not alone" would have helped a lot.
Lexi's Wings was founded with a hope of helping parents through these times. We want to help parents with food, parking etc. We will be passing out "Mommy and Daddy" bags with things like toiletries, deck of cards, puzzle books, stationary. And if the worst happens, we will be there to help with funeral expenses and to support the family any way needed.
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