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An Amarillo family is waiting for their perfect gift as their five month old child fights for her life.
This time of year friends and family seem even more important, especially for the Gomez family.
Their five month old daughter, Audree, is in desperate need of a heart transplant.
"It's like somebody pulled the rug out from underneath you. And your stomach just drops. You just keep thinking this isn't real, I am going to wake up...and you don't," said her mother Kimberly.
Audree was diagnosed with pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy when she was just three months old. Her mother, Kimberly, says she was a healthy newborn... now doctors say her baby may not make it into her toddler years with the heart that she has.
"As parents you all have hopes and dreams for your child and something like this happens, all of those things are taken away almost. We are now looking at, is she going to make it to crawl? Is she going to make it to walk? How long do we have?"
Audree is on the national transplant list. The two of them are living in Dallas while they wait for the phone call that could change their lives, taking it a day at a time and trying to stay positive.
"She smiles and lights up the room and she is always just a cheerful baby. My big kids were happy too, but it just seems there is something extra. I think God kind of gave her a little more of that personality. He knew she was going to have a hard fight."
Her best friend Lauren Taylor says Kimberly's husband and two older children are in Amarillo trying to stay strong for each other. "A daughter alone, whatever age you are, not having your mom there is going to be hard. And then Marky, the five year old boy, he is at the age where he is kind of understanding this. He told his dad the other day that he wants to go get his piggy bank to buy Audree a heart so he could get mom and Audree home."
This time of year friends and family seem even more important, especially for the Gomez family.
Their five month old daughter, Audree, is in desperate need of a heart transplant.
"It's like somebody pulled the rug out from underneath you. And your stomach just drops. You just keep thinking this isn't real, I am going to wake up...and you don't," said her mother Kimberly.
Audree was diagnosed with pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy when she was just three months old. Her mother, Kimberly, says she was a healthy newborn... now doctors say her baby may not make it into her toddler years with the heart that she has.
"As parents you all have hopes and dreams for your child and something like this happens, all of those things are taken away almost. We are now looking at, is she going to make it to crawl? Is she going to make it to walk? How long do we have?"
Audree is on the national transplant list. The two of them are living in Dallas while they wait for the phone call that could change their lives, taking it a day at a time and trying to stay positive.
"She smiles and lights up the room and she is always just a cheerful baby. My big kids were happy too, but it just seems there is something extra. I think God kind of gave her a little more of that personality. He knew she was going to have a hard fight."
Her best friend Lauren Taylor says Kimberly's husband and two older children are in Amarillo trying to stay strong for each other. "A daughter alone, whatever age you are, not having your mom there is going to be hard. And then Marky, the five year old boy, he is at the age where he is kind of understanding this. He told his dad the other day that he wants to go get his piggy bank to buy Audree a heart so he could get mom and Audree home."
Audree's heart transplant will cost about $750,000 dollars, plus all the follow-up care she will have to undergo the rest of her life. Several benefits are being held in Amarillo over the next couple of months to help the family cover some of the medical costs.
A complete list of events and more information on how you can help are available at http://www.audreegomez.blogspot.com/
A complete list of events and more information on how you can help are available at http://www.audreegomez.blogspot.com/
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