CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Once again 3News is teaming up during the month of May with Driscoll Children's Hospital to bring you the latest miracle stories.
This toddler is not only a survivor, but she is also a walking medical mystery.
At only 16 weeks pregnant, Melissa Saenz' water broke. She was rushed to the emergency room where she was told her unborn daughter, Eyla, would most likely not survive.
Eyla was miraculously brought into this world at 26 weeks -- alive, but not without challenges ahead.
"She had grade three, almost grade four bilateral brain bleeds," Saenz said. "Two holes in her heart. She had very premature lungs because of course she was so tiny, and had multiple blood transfusions and things like that."
Eyla is now two years old and is full of curiosity and sparkle.
A year ago though, she was fighting to eat. She couldn't take a bottle. The food was going into her lungs.
Eyla's eating condition is not considered rare, but it was big a problem on top of many for her. She ended up needing a feeding tube in her stomach.
Dr. Ashok Jain, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Driscoll Children's Hospital, has been working with her to keep her food down.
"So we actually end up feeding her beyond the stomach, directly into the small intestine so that no formula can come up," Jain said.
Over time, with therapy, she was able to advance her way of feeding from the intestines to the stomach, and eventually learn to eat by mouth -- but not without the help of Driscoll's therapy teams.
"Speech therapists, dieticians," Jain said. "So there are a lot of other team players that come in, along with the child's attitude and mom's help."
"I say she is the secret shopper of Driscoll because she is in every department here," Saenz said.
Eyla continues to travel to Driscoll Children's Hospital three times a week for therapy and to see a team of doctors. Despite her progress, she is still a medical mystery to be solved.
"They're trying to figure out why she doesn't grow," Saenz said. "She's very small for her age. She eats like a horse and doesn't gain a pound."
Saenz said she and Dr. Jain work closely together through food logs and different tests to try solve the problem.
Eyla's family lives in Ricardo, Texas, near Kingsville. Traveling back and forth can be exhausting, but Saenz said it's easier for her to come to one spot where everyone already knows her daughter's medical history.
"Having all of her doctors here, her specialists, you know, they can always meet when they want to and they're all in the same area," Saenz said.
Eyla still has a long road ahead of her as she continues to also battle chronic lung disease, but her positive spirit keeps everyone around her motivated to keep working toward her success and future.