Obituary of Nevaeh Ana'Lee Quijano-Pinkney

Our sweet angel, our Nevaeh Ana’Lee Quijano Pinkney.  She was too perfect for this world. Our sweet girl was a little warrior. She was born at 30 weeks on September 2nd, 2020. She was taken to Children's Hospital NICU. A place were she was showered with love by her nurses and her mommy From the moment her mommy was discharged from MedStar, she moved into the NICU as well. There was not a C-Section that could stop her. I must say I am forever proud and grateful to my sister for never leaving my niece side. Nevaeh will have that with her forever. Mommy and daddy were always there. We couldn't physically be there to meet her due to COVID-19 rules. Only daddy and grandma got to meet her after birth. 

Myself and my sisters were only a FaceTime away. Always talking to my "gorda", my "girlfriend". She got to recognize my voice. Well at least I hope so because she was ready to smile or roll her eyes at me.

Our little girl had heart complications from birth. But drs assured us she would be okay. Once she grew old enough she would be ready for surgery. Then be able to go home. 

As weeks went by we thought the light out of the tunnel was getting brighter. Our sweet girl started to lack oxygen and blood flow. Doctors spoke about heart surgery options. One was too complicated and our Nevaeh wouldn't resist. The second was placing a BT shunt. That would be the only way to help her. My sister cried and cried. And like they say "a mother's instinct never lies". She just knew deep in her heart that this would be life threatening. Drs insisted that it was the only route they could go and that she would be okay. 

She was rushed to an open heart surgery because she was desatting too much (dropping oxygen levels). Due to swelling doctors had to wait 2 days to close her chest. The day of that closure, an hour later my sweet girl went into cardiac arrest. That led to a second reopening of her surgery. Doctors took about 20 minutes to bring her back to stable numbers. Almost a week later we finally got to see my sweet girl wake up and open those big beautiful eyes of hers. Then a few days later things started to turn for the worst again. Doctors performed many CT Scans and X-rays. That showed lack of blood flow around one of her lungs, blood clots, and lack of oxygen. She was sedated and paralyzed again for treatment. 4 days later her mommy woke up and noticed so many nurses and doctors in the room. She was scared and asked what was going on? She noticed bleeding on baby girls mouth. X-rays showed she was having internal bleeding. She was placed on ECMO Machine (Life Support). Dialysis, and Plasma. My sister and her partner spent hours in the waiting room devastated praying for a miracle. 

They were told the bleeding was treatable and that her numbers seemed to be bettering again. The next day there was more bleeding. Doctors met with them both and explained that things were not looking good. The bleeding was spreading more and more. That it started causing brain damage. They explained that even if she recovered Nevaeh would not be the same baby anymore. 2 days later she was taken of the sedation medication. They wanted to see if she would respond or show any signs of life. Unfortunately my baby girl wasn't. Our little girl fought so hard till her last breathe. It was heartbreaking seeing so much that had been done to her. 


Yesterday was the day I finally got to say hello in person and goodbye at the same time.  My sister, her partner, my mother, father, and myself gathered in the room she took her last breathe in. We saw how critical she was and how life was just gone from her. We prayed so much to God to please have mercy. To save our little girl. But our little girl was exhausted. 

We try to find comfort and peace knowing she is no longer suffering. No longer attached to tubes or poked with needles. Now she’s resting, peacefully with her big brother. 

We ask for strength and support for our family through these difficult moments.