This is Maliah! She was born prematurely at 31 weeks, weighing 2.5 pounds. She is now 13 months old and weighs 15 pounds! She is such a happy baby and anyone who has ever met her can’t help but love her. Her smile lights up a room and her little laugh melts your heart. Her first year of life was really tough, she was born with a rare condition called cloaca and she also has a double uterus. Basically, this means that she has no way for her poop or urine to come out and inside, it forms a channel as she grows in the womb and she happens to have 2 vaginas inside. Since she had no way for anything to survive in the womb, it came back inside her and damaged her kidneys. She has had multiple surgeries in her first year and will have many more to come. Some of the surgeries include colostomy, hysterectomy, vaginectomy, and mucocele surgery. Her next surgery is a major one that will change her life as she gets older and it can only be done in Washington. Her cloaca is more complicated than others and so we have to go to Washington in November. There is a surgeon who specializes in this and he and his team of other specialists will perform the surgery. If all goes according to plan, we will only be there for 2 weeks and return home for Thanksgiving to spend it as a family with both of our daughters. We would do anything for Maliah and make sure she gets the best surgeon possible to get the best possible outcome with little to no risk to her so she can have some normalcy in the future and this is her best chance to have that. With Maliah's surgeries, appointments and general day to day medical needs, I cannot hold down a full time job, but her dad works to help support all of us. He will need to take time off work (unpaid) for the surgery. We have to pay for flights, hotels, food and transportation while there but we need help. If you can give anything it would be greatly appreciated. No amount is too small. Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know a little about our special girl, Maliah Mae