Obituary of Tatiana J. De La Hoz

Our princess angel Tatiana was born on February 8, 2011, weighing 4 lbs 1 oz. Hearing her cry upon her arrival into our world was the most amazing sound we ever heard! We were told she most likely would not survive birth, but she was our fighter and proved them wrong. We learned in October 2010 that she was diagnosed with Trisomy 18, and we were devastated especially after researching this chromosome disorder. She only had a 50% chance of surviving birth, and then only 10% chance of living until her first birthday. But we learned of other children with Trisomy 18 that are alive and living happy and loving lives, so we prayed she would be one of the survivors. We knew it would not be an easy road, but we knew we were strong enough to handle it. She chose us to be her parents, and she was brought to our earth for a purpose. She remained in the NICU after birth for 13 days, and came home weighing all of 3 lbs 12 oz. She was our tiny little peanut, but we were so happy to have her home. In April of 2011 she got a cold and ended up in congestive heart failure. Again, the doctors did not expect her to survive, but she was our little fighter, she was determined to live! We kept asking her what she wanted us to do, as we always wanted what was best for her, to not make decisions based on our selfishness but what was truly best for Tati. She was in the hospital for only one week and then came home on oxygen. In June she traveled with us to the Outer Banks of North Carolina so that she could be with us for our wedding. Many people thought we should have cancelled our wedding, but we knew we had to continue living our lives as normal as possible, and the doctors okayed it for her to come with us. We went prepared with several oxygen tanks, her meds, letters from her doctors and upfront details of where the hospitals were. She loved being at the beach; it was amazing how much easier it was for her to breath down there. She continued to grow and gain weight. We started to practice solid foods with her in August --> boy did she love the sweet potatoes! Seeing her big gummy smile and hearing her baby talk melted your heart every day. We had a half birthday celebration for her in August when she was 6 months old, and we got to see so many 'firsts' with her: her first Halloween, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas and she was with us to bring in the New Year. When she caught a cold, we hoped it would be like the cold in October that she was able to fight off. But as days went by, she continued to get worse. On Thursday, we took her to the pediatrician and they sent us to the ER. At first it seemed she may just need some oxygen and suction assistance. But sadly it wasn't enough and she no longer had the strength to fight back; her tiny heart was pounding so hard and she continued to struggle to breath. We told her it was ok, that she fought long enough, that it was time to go, and we understood and loved her. She then looked into our eyes and took her last breath about 10 minutes before 9 pm on Friday the 6th of January, 2011. She was two days shy of her 11 month birthday. We know she is at peace and no longer struggling. Tatiana Joelle is survived by her loving parents, Raul and Jennifer (Roberts) De La Hoz, her two brothers Erick and Nicholas, her fuzzy 'sister' Sophie, her grandparents Nancy and David Roberts, Martha Carvajal, and Federico De La Hoz, several aunts, uncles and cousins. 'Every child forever changes our world' [Trisomy 18 Foundation]. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Trisomy 18 Foundation via Tatiana's legacy page at www.trisomy18.org.