Giovanni’s Story

When Gloriana and her husband welcomed their son, Giovanni, in September 2025, they expected the joy and challenges of bringing home a newborn. Instead, they began a journey they never could have imagined.

Although Giovanni was born full term, he weighed just 4 pounds, 7 ounces. During pregnancy, doctors discovered he wasn’t growing as expected and identified several heart defects. Further testing revealed he had a rare genetic condition caused by a de novo PBX1 mutation.

Immediately after birth, Giovanni experienced severe respiratory distress and was placed on a high-frequency jet ventilator. After multiple attempts to help him breathe on his own, doctors discovered he had a hypoplastic (underdeveloped) left lung and severe tracheobronchomalacia, a condition that causes the airway to collapse.

At only 36 days old, Giovanni received a tracheostomy.

For most parents, hearing the word “trach” is overwhelming. Gloriana remembers not even knowing that babies could receive one. Yet that procedure became the reason Giovanni could continue fighting.

Today, at 9 months old, Giovanni continues to surprise everyone around him. He is reaching milestones his family once feared might never come. As they wait for his upcoming heart surgery and hope to transition to a rehabilitation facility before finally bringing him home, they continue making the two-hour drive to the hospital nearly every day.

The emotional burden has been enormous—but so has the financial one.

Between gas, mounting toll charges, utilities, and everyday bills, there were days when Gloriana and her husband had to choose between buying dinner and making the drive to be with their son. Missing a day with Giovanni was never an option.

Through The Little Trachs Foundation, we were honored to pay the family’s outstanding toll expenses, helping remove one barrier standing between these parents and their baby.

For Gloriana, the support meant far more than financial relief.

“This grant is helping me keep my reliable transportation so I can make the two-hour trip to my baby and be his voice. Thank you a thousand times over. This was more than help to us—it gave me hope in humanity again after the hardest year of my life,” said Gloriana.