Cecilia (“Cici”) Faye Severs was born to Pete and Anna Severs on August 29, 2024. She was born premature at 33 weeks. A few hours after her birth, the medical team noticed a problem with Cici’s heart, and she was transferred to Rady Children's Hospital immediately. During her examination in the NICU, doctors determined that Cici had been born with a congenital heart defect (CHD) called truncus arteriosus with an interrupted aortic arch.
The first month of Cici’s life was spent with the medical team administering various medications, blood transfusions, blood thinners, and other measures. After undergoing several procedures and operations, the complications continued to pile up. On October 8th, after consulting with the medical team, she was taken off life support. Surrounded by parents and grandparents, she breathed her last breath.
This journey opened our eyes to the impacts of congenital heart defects. Every 15 minutes in the United States, a baby is born with a CHD, making it the most common birth defect in the country. Despite this, it receives less public awareness than many other children's diseases and disorders. For this reason, we have decided to honor Cici by fundraising for The Children's Heart Foundation. Their mission is simple: to advance the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of congenital heart defects by funding the most promising research. They have funded over 160 research projects to date, contributing nearly $18 million toward CHD research and scientific collaborations.
We will be walking in loving memory of Cici at the Washington D.C. Congenital Heart Walk on October 25th, 2025. We invite you to join us on the walk or support our fundraising efforts. Together, we can raise the funds essential to drive forward life-saving research.
To see more details about Cici’s story, please see her page here created by her mom and dad: https://chdwalk.childrensheartfoundation.org/event/myfundraiser/account/1877956/