Family House Family Stories: Faye's Story

What do you do when your 2-month old becomes seriously ill? Yifan and Kip Baumann were faced with this terrible question in 2009 when their little girl started to show symptoms of liver failure.

"Faye was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia (BA) at the age of two months. BA is a rare, life-threatening liver disease, and there is no hospital to treat her disease in the Sacramento area where we live," recalls Faye's mother, Yifan. Faye was taken by ambulance to San Francisco for surgery and treatment at the UCSF Children's Hospital on July 31, 2009. Though the surgery was successful, afterwards, Faye suffered three separate bouts of Cholangitis, a life-threatening infection of the bile duct system, and the family found themselves in and out of San Francisco for treatment at UCSF over the course of many months.

 "Kip and I were both exhausted by that time, so Faye's grandparents came to help. They lived in the Family House for about 2 weeks and cared for Faye during the day. We greatly appreciate the help from the Family House during our most difficult time!"

Three years have passed since the Baumann family were regulars at UCSF and Family House. There is now a new face in the family, Faye's healthy baby brother, Kai.  Faye can never be "cured" of BA - it is a disease that will be with her for life. Unless science can discover a way to stop the progression of the disease, a liver transplant may be in her future. For now, she is healthy and vibrant.

 For her 4th birthday, Faye's parents requested that friends and family make donations to Family House in lieu of gifts.  "Family House is doing great things to help people in need and I want to let people know that. A donation to Family House is much more meaningful to us than gifts. We will explain to Faye that the gifts from her guests were sent to Family House to help other kids, so they can also have birthday parties.

"When she gets older, we will encourage her to participate in charity and community service. I saw many many great people during our difficult time and I want to Faye to learn from them."

To learn about ways that you can help Family House, please click here: http://www.familyhouseinc.org/donate.shtml