by ATTLEBORO, Mass. (WJAR) — A 3-year-old and her family are headed to Disney World with help from the Make-a-Wish Foundation after a long hospital battle.
Although she was a typical happy-go-lucky girl, Gianna Dore spent the first nine months of her life in the hospital.
“All the things you think kids shouldn’t have to go through, she did,” said Taylor Johnson, Gianna’s mother.
In 2020, Gianna was born prematurely at 5 weeks, weighing just 2 pounds.
His lungs were underdeveloped and the newborn was forced to be incubated.
She was taken to the NICU shortly after, where she spent the next nine and a half months fighting for her life.
“It was really, really hard to watch her go through that – just the uncertainty of it all – not knowing if this was something she was going to get through because there were times when the doctors said they didn’t know what the future might hold,” Johnson said.
While battling several chronic heart and lung conditions, Gianna also required a tracheotomy, being placed on a ventilator, and open heart surgery before she was 2 years old.
“It definitely made us a lot stronger, it changed who I became,” Gianna’s mother said.
And despite all this, her mother was baffled by her young daughter’s unbreakable spirit.
“Every time we’ve had a hospital stay or surgery, I think it’s going to affect her behavior, but every time she comes back smiling. It amazes me because I couldn’t get through the half what she was going through and I kept smiling,” Johnson said.
Today, while she is still on tube feeding, a sense of normalcy has been returned to the family.
The 3-year-old is no longer completely on a ventilator.
“It makes me emotional to see her being a normal child,” her mother said.
Her continued fight is paying off, she is now heading to the happiest place on earth thanks to the Make-a-Wish foundation.
Gianna’s family said recovery will be lifelong, but for now, it’s about cherishing the little moments and making her happy forever.
