The Kirila Family

Scroll down to see updates as the Krilia family progresses in their CDH Journey! (All updates are written and given by parents with consent)

Initial Backstory

"My name is Emily and my husband's name is Joe. We have two daughters named Genevieve age 5  and Olivia age 3. On November 18th, 2025 during an anatomy for our third baby girl named Audriana, the scan we learned that the baby's stomach was seen in her chest. We were then referred to University Hospital in Cleveland to see an MFM and more detailed anatomy scan. We learned that the baby's condition was moderate CDH. One month later at University Hospitals, we had a repeat scan that showed the condition seemed to be severe CDH. University Hospitals then referred us to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for an MRI to confirm this diagnosis and see if we would be a candidate for the FETO in-utero surgery. Cincinnati Children's confirmed the severe CDH with liver up diagnosis and said we qualified for the FETO surgery. On January 12th, we relocated to Cincinnati to remain here until Audriana is born and is out of the NICU. We said goodbye to our family and left our girls in the care of their grandparents 4 1/2 hours away from the hospital. On January 13th, we had a successful FETO surgery. Six days after, I had to have an amniotic fluid reduction due to high levels of amniotic fluid. About one week later, my water broke on January 26 so I have been on bedrest in the hospital. We have currently made it to 32 weeks and at 34 weeks we will have a second surgery to remove the balloon placed in the baby's trachea during the first surgery. Then, we wait until she arrives. We are anticipating many months of NICU care after she is born, but are hopeful that the FETO surgery improves her survival outcomes and lessens her time in the NICU. The grant will help us with continued bills and expenses that continue to come in even though we are in the hospital and will help when I run out of my sick leave from my job. We are so very grateful for organizations like the Eden Calhoun Charitable Fund to keep all CDH stories being honored and remembered. "

4/1/2026 Update

"Audriana was born at 34 weeks and 3 days old on February 26 just two days after the FETO balloon removal surgery. She lasted almost 24 hours before needing to go on ECMO. at day five of life she had her CDH repair surgery and all went well! They were not able to close her abdominal incision because she was too small. We are still waiting for her to be big enough to close it. She was on ECMO for 8 days. As of right now, she is doing well. She is currently on the ventilator and we are making progress on weaning her based of her CO2 levels. The doctors are very happy with her progress since she was born early. She is feisty and we are so happy she's here!"

5/5/2026

"Audriana has been extubated and is doing well! We are working on feedings!"