For Lucy, Every Breath Matters

Our daughter, Lucy, was born in April 2025 at just 26 weeks gestation. She weighed barely 1.5 pounds and measured only 11 inches long. From the very beginning, it was clear she was incredibly sick. Her lungs were far more underdeveloped than they should have been, even for a baby born so early.

Over time, Lucy was diagnosed with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), pulmonary interstitial glycogenosis, pulmonary hypertension and several other conditions. Much of her life has been spent connected to ventilators, monitors and feeding tubes while her medical team searched for the best path forward.

In July 2025, just before she turned 3 months old, Lucy transferred to Children’s Hospital Colorado to join the SPROUTs (Supporting Preemie Respiratory Outcomes) program in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It was there that we began seeing meaningful progress.

Soon after we arrived, Katelyn Enzer, MD, approached us about a research study using Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). For the first months of Lucy’s life, she had an X‑ray every single day. She had more radiation exposure in one month than most people have in their entire life. And when you’re in survival mode, you don’t stop to think about what that means years down the line. But EIT would allow clinicians to see Lucy’s lungs functioning in real time without radiation, risk or delay. After months of watching Lucy cycle between different ventilators and countless settings with no clear roadmap, we didn’t hesitate to say yes.

The first time Lucy had EIT, 17 tiny sticker electrodes were carefully placed around her chest. They barely fit. Wires connected to a large monitor displaying colorful images of her lungs. As parents, it looked a little wild. How could these colorful blobs possibly help anyone understand our daughter’s lungs?

As it turns out, they could help a lot.

With EIT, the care team could finally see that Lucy’s lung disease wasn’t uniform. It’s what doctors call heterogenous. Certain pressures benefited the front of her lungs. Other settings helped different regions. Before EIT, finding the right ventilator settings often felt like making the best possible guess and waiting to see what happened. Now, instead of a one‑size‑fits‑all approach, Lucy can be cared for precisely.

For the first time, doctors can see how Lucy’s lungs respond in real time. If a ventilator setting is changed, they can immediately see which areas improve and which do not. Instead of waiting for another X-ray or hoping they chose the best setting, they have instant feedback.

Over the nine months that Lucy has participated in EIT studies, we have watched both the technology and the understanding of it continue to grow. In fact, we often joke that Lucy has become the hospital’s unofficial “EIT ambassador.” She may have had more EIT studies than any other patient at Children’s Colorado.

Just before turning 5 months old, Lucy received a tracheostomy. While it did not immediately improve her respiratory status, it allowed her to start experiencing the joys of being a baby. She loves watching her big brother, Lincoln, taking bubble baths, playing with toys and chatting with nurses and anyone else who passes by her room.

Lucy’s story is still being written, while the stories of future Lucys haven’t yet begun. EIT is an easy “yes” for parents because it is safe, noninvasive, and provides real-time information that helps doctors make better decisions immediately.

Thank you to the 2221 Society, and the donors who give to this initiative, for supporting this research. By investing in EIT, you are helping doctors learn how to provide smarter, safer, and more personalized care for babies like Lucy. To us, that feels nothing short of miraculous.