PHOENIX — A round of "Patty Cake" is a quick way to get a bright smile across Sophia Parra-Diaz's face.
"She's a very happy baby through everything she's been through," mom, Desire Zuniga, said.
With two white bows in her pigtails, Sophia is now 1 year old.
"She's a fighter, she really is," Zuniga said.
Sophia's fight began before she was born. Her mom was 35 weeks pregnant when it was discovered Sophia had an enlarged heart.
"They said she was going to have surgery – first surgery when she got here – when she was born, but then it was a whole different problem," Zuniga said. "She needed a heart transplant."
April Colón, a cardiac transplant nurse practitioner and coordinator at Phoenix Children's Hospital worked with Sophia and her family.
"She had heart failure, meaning her heart wasn't working well enough or squeezing well enough to be able to support her body," Colón said. "Even at some point where we had to support her with putting a breathing tube in for her so that we can allow her heart to work less."
Sophia waited for months on the transplant list while at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Zuniga describes watching her daughter go through ups and downs over that time.
"She still would wake up and look at me and let me know she was OK. We'd kind of look at each other and I'd tell her like, 'You're OK, Mama's here, you're gonna be OK – you got it.'"
It – a heart – came in July. Zuniga says she got the call on July 25.
"I was like, crying and my mom was there with me. She's like, 'What, what?' And I'm like, 'She got her heart!' Like we've been waiting so long, seven months. I couldn't speak," Zuniga said.
Zuniga remembers praying and waiting through the surgery and checking every update. The next day, recalling how she sat in a chair and back to her happy self.
"It was scary, but we made it through it," Zuniga said.
Grateful especially for the gift of a heart for her daughter, and encourages others to consider organ donation.
"If we didn't get our heart transplant, we'd still be in the hospital with a tube down her throat and laying in bed and all of that stuff. So it really did save her life," Zuniga said.
With the long hospital stay over, Zuniga wants other families going through difficult medical journeys to keep the faith.
"At first I felt like it was just me and my baby," Zuniga said. "And then seeing coming in and out of the hospital and all the other families that are there. And if I could speak with every one of them I would tell them, 'Don't, do not give up.'"
Sophia was still in the hospital until November following her transplant and then had to come back to Phoenix Children's because of a virus she had.
"She's a very unique case in that she had a lot of other complications that she had to deal with around transplant, and even after she got a new, good working heart," Colón said.
Right now, Sophia is back home with a feeding tube and a vent to help her breathe. But, Christmas this year looked different than last year.
This year Sophia was home celebrating with her family, complete with her big brother.
"I was like this is the only thing I've ever wanted was to have both of my kids not only home together, but even on a holiday is one of the best things to have them together," Zuniga said.
Now the family is ready to find joy amidst the everyday.
"Just seeing her do her milestones and watching her and get through it all is what I'm excited for," Zuniga said.
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