Nicole is one of five siblings.  She was adopted by her parents. 

Nikki functions at the level of a baby.  She's not able to walk or move about, and she has seizures several times a day.  She's also blind.

 Hydranencephaly indicates that a child is missing much or most of their brain.  It is a condition in which part of the brain mantle (cortical plate and hemispheric white matter) has been damaged, liquified, and resorbed. It can be caused by exposure to drugs or infection before birth.  Less than fifty percent of babies born with the defect survive; and of those, most don't live past one month.

Nikki's had many surgeries and receives botox injections for tight muscles.

Many gifts which are normally appropriate for a a pre-teen girl would not be useful for Nikki, but she does enjoy  music and videos she can listen to.

Nikki was first featured on the Hugs and Hope web site back in 2006.  We are "re-featuring" her this month because she's had a rough year and could use some extra T.L.C.  So let's cheer her up!   And don't forget her sisters!  They could use encouragement as well, since their sister gets a lot of the attention and they must spend a great deal of time in hospitals entertaining themselves while mom attends to Nikki.

For email and snail mail addresses, personal web site URL, medical fund information, and a current list of all three girls' interests and hobbies, visit our "Kids List" page.

For CURRENT UPDATES visit our updates page.