Meet this year's Kids Day Ambassador Finley Tenison
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- This year's Kids Day Ambassador's is Finley Tenison. The Tenisons welcomed Finley into their family when she was just a day old, but doctors thought something wasn't right.
"The doctors had detected there was something wrong," said Finley's mother, Amanda Tenison. "They believed there was a heart murmur."
Finley was transferred to Valley Children's Hospital, and that's when doctors discovered she had a serious heart condition.
"You can't live like that for very long," Amanda explained, "so we knew, at that point, she was going to need to have immediate surgery."
On day four, Finley had heart surgery.
"They had to stop her heart, put her on a bypass machine," Amanda said. "It was 14 hours and a team of around 20 people. She was in the hospital for 30 days."
The next month wasn't easy, but thanks to hospital staff, the family made it through.
"They did an amazing job of stepping in and just basically explaining every part of the process," Amanda said.
Three years later, Finley is happy and healthy, visiting Valley Children's Hospital once a year for check-ups.
"Not everyone anticipates that they'll have to take their child to Valley Children's Hospital," Amanda said. "You might have a niece or a cousin or a neighbor that ends up needing their services. This affects our entire community."
Finley already has big plans for the future. She told Action News when she grows up, she hopes to be a doctor.
HOW TO DONATE
Donors can contribute by texting GEORGE to 20222 to make an automatic $10 donation or visit ValleyChildrens.org/KidsDay and choose any amount to give, starting at $1.
