Elizabeth De La Cruz-Noland
Elizabeth was previously a health leader on SpinalMuscularAtrophy.net.
Elizabeth De La Cruz-Noland is a mom of two. Her second child, Elijah, was born with spinal muscular atrophy type 1. Elijah was in the NICU for a little over 3 months due to his severe symptoms at birth. Doctors were concerned since he was very floppy at birth. They quickly transported him to a local NICU where they ran a bunch of tests and labs to find a diagnosis. He was officially diagnosed at 5 days old through newborn screening that confirmed he had SMA type 1, in March of 2021.
Elijah received a one-time infusion of a two million drug named Zolgensma. He was the first baby to be treated with Zolgensma in CHLA's Nicu.
Elizabeth is now a full-time caregiver to Elijah. She is a stay at home mom, although most days she feels like a taxi driver constantly on the go.
She graduated from Cal State Fullerton in California with a bachelor's in Sociology. She currently resides in California with her husband Joshua, 7-year-old daughter Brianna, and almost 2-year-old son Elijah.
Elizabeth is still learning to navigate being a mom/ caregiver to a medically complex child. She aspires to share her journey in hopes of spreading awareness, helping another newly diagnosed family, and inspiring others to never give up.
Click here to read all of Elizabeth's articles on SpinalMuscularAtrophy.net.