Family of 1-year-old undergoing life-saving surgery at Stanford needs your help

STANFORD, Calif. (KGO) -- One-year-old Paloma Bartocci is so new to the world and has already endured two surgeries. Her family is at Stanford's Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, hoping that another one will save her life.

"You try to stay in good spirits, even though there's an underlying sadness and an underlying stress. We just keep the faith," Paloma's mother, Marlena, said.

Paloma was born with congenital heart defects and was life-flighted out here from Orange County on Friday.

"Typically, families like us will stay in the Ronald McDonald home, but they don't have any available rooms as of now," Marlena said.

Paloma's parents don't have anywhere to stay, so they're sleeping in beds at the hospital. They say they're swallowing their pride and asking for your help.

"Money is, yeah, incredibly tight. I took a whole year off for her health, so we basically blew through all our savings that we had as a family," Marlena said.

The family will be out here at least a month. "We looked at prices and Motel 6 is $100 a night here, so you're looking at $3,000 plus to live in a Motel 6," she said.

Sleeping in beds at the hospital is difficult, but Paloma's parents say they will do whatever it takes to give their daughter a fighting chance.

They're putting away every penny they can and putting away their pride tonight.

"It's really hard to come forward to people and ask for money. You have to really let your ego down but any little bit that you can give forward and help to our family and daughter would be greatly appreciated," Marlena said.

If you'd like to help the Bartocci family, click here.