Erin Ingenito
Avery’s Angels Team
Event Coordinator
My name is Erin Ingenito. I am a dental assistant, mother to my daughter Brenna, and a nan to my Remington. I help provide support to families navigating their gastroschisis journey, and now am the Event Coordinator for The Global Gastroschisis Foundation, organizing fundraisers and awareness events.
Our gastroschisis journey began when my daughter was about 18 weeks pregnant.I’ll never forget that day she called me hysterically crying, I felt helpless as I was in NC and she was in TN going to school! I immediately jumped on google and found Avery’s Angels. I read and read, I reached out to people who I knew in the medical field, I had a plan and I focused on that. The Dr in TN wanted to induce Brenna when the baby was weighing approximately 2 lbs. As a mother and a grandmother that was not happening, I spoke to her Dr and he stated he was concerned because Brenna also had IUGR but he felt she could make the trip back to NC as long as she stopped every hour. Immediately I contacted my support team again and I transferred her from TN back to NC where I had her immediately seen in UNC Chappel Hill. For 2 months we made the travel 3 hours each way, until 3-3-17 when my beautiful granddaughter was born! Remington had surgery with in a few hours after birth, and then we began the patiently waiting to be able to bring this ray of sunshine home. And that day would come 2 months later.
In learning more about gastroschisis I realized not a lot of people know about it however I bumped into so many people who themselves were born with it, or some one in their family was!
It was then that I made the choice to join Avery’s Angels, because I want to give back, I want more people to know and have the resources that they need! I want to be a voice for my granddaughter! And most importantly I want every child/adult born with rare birth defects to be proud, stand tall, and be proud of the story they have to tell, and be forever blessed with their special belly buttons!!