Cassie Thomas-Fuller Hometown: Lubbock, TX Our precious daughter Kennedy was born July 5, 2012 at 3:28 p.m. She was born with a congenital heart defect (CHD), hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and mitral valve stenosis. She had open heart surgery just three days after being born. There were some good days, others were hard. On July 27, 2012, only 22 days after being born, our sweet Kennedy was called back to heaven. Kennedy also had necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which is when the intestines become infected. I was hoping I would be able to breastfeed her, but due to her severe circumstances, she never knew what breastmilk tasted like. Kennedy was our first child. Her father and I only held her once before she was called back to heaven. She was a very content baby; she never cried and was always smiling. Kennedy was 1 of 100 children to be born with CHD. It’s hard to think that our first child never got the chance to see what her home looked like, or what it smelled like. Having faith is what has gotten me and my husband through this difficult time. I now know that Kennedy is in heaven without pain and that she was here on this earth for a reason. It takes some people a lifetime to find their purpose, and she found hers in 22 days. Kennedy was and will always be our beautiful angel.