MEET OUR VOLUNTEERS - Tracy Meyer

Tracy Meyer

Tracy Meyer is the proud mother of Lillian Sophia, born on June 7, 2011 at North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital (Stephen & Alexandra Cohen's Children's Medical Center).  Tracy found out that Lily was diagnosed with left-sided CDH during her 36-week sonogram.  With the love and support that was given to the Meyer family, Lily proved the world that she is a fighter and there is hope. After a successful surgery 3 days after she was born (which was performed laparoscopically), Lily was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks and came home on Father's Day. Known as the “miracle angel,” Lily still amazes everyone to this day how strong of a fighter she is.

Tracy resides on Long Island, New York with her husband, Christopher. She has been a CHERUBS volunteer for New York since June 2012. Tracy has a BS in Accounting and AS in Computer Science and has been working in the accounting field since 2003 working in audit and tax. Whether it’s at the eastern end of Long Island at the wineries or having a get together at home, Tracy loves spending time with friends and family.

MEET OUR VOLUNTEERS - Noel Williams

Noel Williams Noel Williams is the mom to Aidan Michael Williams.  Aidan was born June 6, 2006 and passed away on June 18, 2006. He was with us for 12 days.  We first learned about Aidan’s condition at our 18-week ultrasound.  He had Left-Sided Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia – also known as CDH.   His stomach, spleen, liver and small portions of both his small and large intestines had entered his chest cavity through his hernia. After a doctor recommended amniocentesis we were told that Aidan had no other birth defects that would alter the doctors course of treatment or his already poor prognosis. After much research, my husband and I visited CHOP, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital located at NY Columbia Presbyterian.  At 21 weeks I went into pre-term labor and spent a week in the hospital and the remainder of my pregnancy on bed rest. I delivered Aidan at 38 weeks and even though we were told this would happen, it was still a shock to realize that he was not breathing.  The doctors immediately rushed Aidan into the emergency NICU on the labor and delivery floor and stabilized him on a ventilator.  The morning following Aidan’s birth the doctor’s woke me around 6 a.m. to get my consent to place Aidan on ECMO.  He had had a rough night and they were having trouble stabilizing him.  When Aidan was 5 days old Dr. Marc Arkovitz, Principal Investigator for the DHREAMS Study at Columbia University Medical Center successfully performed Aidan’s repair surgery.  Over the next several days Aidan slowly began to stabilize and the doctors recommended removing Aidan from ECMO when he was 10 days old.  They worried about the side effects of having him stay on ECMO any longer than that and they hoped that he would be stable enough to be placed on a ventilator.  The night he came off of ECMO began our downhill battle of trying to get him stable.  The doctors tried everything from an oscillating ventilator to a conventional ventilator to help stabilize Aidan. On June 18, Father’s Day my husband and I were allowed to finally hold our son.  He passed away peacefully in our arms. I currently live in Islip, NY with my husband and our son Gavin. Gavin is a happy and healthy little boy who will be starting Kindergarten in September.  I say every day that Gavin was a gift to us from Aidan; getting pregnant so soon after losing Aidan and caring for this amazing little boy helped get me through the most difficult time in my life.  I work full time as a Financial Consultant.  I love spending as much time as possible with my family.  I also love gardening, reading and anything to do with arts and crafts, I scrapbook, crochet, quilt and counted cross-stitch.  I serve as a CHERUBS New York State Co-Representative as well as the Grant Committee.  I have found both friendship and solace within this amazing group of people.  I am blessed to have found Cherubs and I love every minute I spend helping Save the Cherubs.

MEET OUR VOLUNTEERS - Jennifer Cuomo

Jennifer Cuomo My name is Jennifer Cuomo.  My husband Andrew and I have one daughter, Shay, who was born on August 29, 2011.  We live in Warwick, NY.  I am a school guidance counselor and my husband is a supervisor for Paychex, Inc.  Our daughter Shay was born with a left side CDH.  This was not detected on an ultrasound so we had no idea until the day after she was born.  I was actually the one who noticed that she was having difficulty breathing and asked the doctors to examine her further.  After an xray they diagnosed her CDH and she was immediately flown to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, NY.  Shay had surgery 3 days after her arrival to Westchester.  She did so well and healed amazingly fast. She was released from the NICU 6 days after her surgery! The nurses and doctors were shocked by her speedy recovery!  At the time we had never heard of CDH and knowing what we do now, we are so grateful that she is ok and doing so well. Shay is the light of our lives and we feel so blessed every single day.

MEET OUR VOLUNTEERS - Tara Zoitos

Tara Zoitos Tara has been sharing her passion for CHERUBS and all they have to offer as a representative for the state of NY where she presently resides with her husband John, Taylor and their two pups Dexter and Delilah. Taylor Marie was born June 19, 2002 with left sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia diagnosed at her 22 week "well check." Given an extremely poor prognosis and an impending sense of doom she found CHERUBS, where she was provided with the resources, support and education needed throughout her pregnancy, delivery at New York Presbyterian Babies Hospital and for the last ten years. "Cherubs gave me a sense of hope and calm that no one could offer. My dream of being able to pay it forward has been so rewarding and I am so fortunate to have the opportunity.The relationship you form with parents experiencing the same pain, struggles and questions I had ten years ago is mutually transforming — engaging with others that need you is part of God’s redemptive plan." Taylor's diagnosis and the lasting physical and emotional challenges was the catalyst to inspire me to become a pediatric nurse. I am presently furthering my education to encompass a specialty in Respiratory Therapies.

CHERUBS in the Altantic City Marathon

We are pleased to announce that CHERUBS will be raising Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness in the Atlantic City Marathon! Working with the family of Brielle Santos and the Jewish Community Center of Atlantic County, we will be raising funds and awareness through participates and supporters.

To support CDH, use the code CHERUBS when they register for the race on Active.com.

Walking in the Marathon?  Click here to order CDH Awareness Gear!

Walking in the Marathon?  Click here to order CDH Awareness Gear!

cherub Brielle Santo



We look forward to seeing you there!

Gabe's Bowl-A-Thon

(From Corin)

The Bowl-A-Thon fundraising event was a huge success! We had over 50 people in attendance, including 6 CHERUBS families and 3 beautiful cherubs themselves! We succeeded in beating our fundraising goal, but best of all were able to have fun and spread some CDH Awareness to the local bowlers. The staff were very interested in what we were raising money for, and asked us to come back next year to make it an annual event

A big thank you to all who participated and to all those who sponsored the event!

For more information and photos, visit the New England CHERUBS blog at http://newenglandcherubs.wordpress.com/