When Aly was pregnant with her first child in 2024, she and her husband, Justin, didn’t expect to uncover any issues at her 20-week ultrasound. But the scan showed a heart condition called truncus arteriosus, where a baby only develops one blood vessel instead of the aorta and the pulmonary artery. Without treatment, it’s fatal.
“It was a very emotional, up-and-down pregnancy, but there was something about Rose,” Aly says. “She was a fighter from the beginning—we knew that she would be OK.”
Rose was born in August 2024 at 34.6 weeks, weighing 3.1 pounds. Rose was transferred from her birth hospital to Phoenix Children’s two weeks after she was born, first to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and then to the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU). When she was just 2 months old, she had open heart surgery to repair her blood vessels.
Rose stayed in the CVICU for a total of five and a half months. “She spent every holiday in the hospital her first year, except for Easter,” Aly says.
Music therapy, a donor-funded program, turned out to be a key part of Rose’s experience at Phoenix Children’s. Music therapists use music-based interventions to help patients achieve therapeutic goals.
When a music therapist worked with Rose, she found ways that songs could help calm her, especially when Rose’s treatments meant she couldn’t have her pacifier. “Rose built a strong relationship with her music therapist. She played a huge part in finding other routes for her being calm besides medication,” Aly says.
When Rose went home from the hospital, she brought with her some musical toys, recordings of her heartbeat and of her therapist’s voice—and a love of music. “She loves singing. She can’t talk, and she’s such a little extrovert, so she loves facial interaction and when you’re dramatic about singing,” Aly says. “And singing is our default method to calm her down. ‘Wheels on the Bus’ is our go-to.”
Once Rose went home, her struggles weren’t over. She needed oxygen delivered through a nasal cannula and a feeding tube to help her get the nutrients she needed. She had a narrow airway, and she was readmitted to the hospital for rhinovirus and low oxygen levels.
- “She loves singing. She can’t talk, and she’s such a little extrovert, so she loves facial interaction and when you’re dramatic about singing.”ALY Rose’s mom
In June 2025, doctors inserted a tracheostomy to bypass her narrow airway so she could breathe directly into her lungs. “I was in denial about her needing a trach, but had I known the difference it would make in her, I would have done it sooner,” Aly says. “She’s even happier than she was before the trach.”
Now 2 years old, Rose has been home since late October 2025, so she was able to enjoy last year’s holiday season with her family. “She loves snuggles, singing, stroller walks, books and Ms. Rachel. She’s thriving at this point. It’s awesome to see her doing so well,” Aly says. “She blows my mind every day with how smart she is and how cute she is and how happy she is.”
Rose continues to receive follow-up care at Phoenix Children’s, where she recently underwent a successful second open-heart surgery in August 2026—and was thrilled to enjoy music therapy once again.
“When she has her appointments, the nurses and doctors are excited to see how big she is,” Aly says. “She loves the hospital—it’s like her second home.”
