About Us
Hi there! My name is Márcia and this is my little heart warrior Kaylee (Kiki for short). Kaylee was born with a rare chromosome disorder called Mosaic Trisomy 22. It is so uncommon that even the doctors couldn't tell us much about it. We were told that we should abort the pregnancy because her quality of life wouldn't be that good with her trisomy and her heart condition. Then we decided to go to another hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, and get a second opinion. That decision would forever change our lives. They took one look at her echo cardiogram and said "we can fix that." So with that knowledge in hand, we decided if she would keep growing, then we would let her. Then on February 11, 2016, I was induced and gave birth to a 3lb 15oz beautiful little heart warrior. Nothing about Kaylee's pregnancy was easy. In fact, I was scared the whole time. At 6 months she underwent heart surgery which she handled like a seasoned pro. Now she runs around and lives a normal life.
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I started Kikilishop as a way to give back to the CHD community. As a mother that went through this, I know how hard it is to see your little one in the hospital, covered in tubes, crying, scared. All you want is to be able to fix your child but you are completely at the mercy of the professionals. I wanted my Kiki to have something special when she recovered, not something I just picked up in the gift shop. I thought she deserved more than that. I wanted to make it with love, something personalized, a keepsake that she would have forever. A gift that would remind her of how strong she was and how precious life is. Now that I've made a few thousand of these, there is nothing more gratifying as being sent a picture with one of the plushies lying in the hospital bed next to someone else's heart warrior. Or someone telling me how helpful one of our surgery scar dolls has been with growing their child's confidence. Kikilishop continues to grow every year and with growth I've been able to add a bunch of non CHD related items as well. I want all warriors to have something special, just for them. We now cater to children with cancer, epilepsy, birthmarks, even congenital diaphragmatic hernias. Every parent wants their child to be happy and seeing a toy that was made just for them does exactly that.