Kelly was born with Arteriovenous Malformation, a malformed cluster of vessels, in her cerebellum (probably youngest survivor on record). No one was aware of this at her birth, she was extremely healthy, however, at 11 weeks of age we awoke to her blood curdling screams. Unbeknownst to us she was hemorrhaging, and literally bleeding to death! We called the pediatrician and told him something was definitely wrong and he told us he'd meet us at Phoenix Children's Hospital. The doctors did a CAT scan which showed a "mass" in her brain. They told us the "mass" was most likely a cancerous brain tumor and that if she made it through the delicate surgery she was about to embark, she would be dead within a year.

Six hours later the doctors told us she didn't have cancer (thank God!), but an AVM, which had hemorrhaged, she would most likely be delayed and have severe fine motor delays. We were fortunate this happened when it did because her fontanel was still soft which gave her brain room to expand; had this happened as an adult her chances of survival would be slim. That wonderful pediatrician and the children's hospital he demanded we meet him at saved her life!

She attended five years of rigorous physical, occupational, speech and visual therapies and her outcome due to the therapies is more optimistic than the doctors had anticipated!