Amazing Grace Dies, after being born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Jennifer Johnson was 18 weeks and five days pregnant when an ultrasound showed something was wrong.

The doctor who ran the ultrasound group called her into his office and broke the news that her baby had a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, or a hole in the diaphragm.

"When I first heard hernia, I thought that it was no biggie," she recalled. "Then he started talking about some operations and that 50 percent of kids with this don't survive, but that was too much for me to comprehend. It wasn't until he said that if the baby survives we'd be in the hospital for months did I think, 'Oh my God.' He said, 'Why don't you call Vinnie?'"

Monroe County Legislator Vinnie Esposito, who had missed the ultrasound appointment to meet an electrician at home, rushed to be by his wife's side. The doctor told them their case was beyond his scope of care and that they would eventually need treatment at Golisano Children's Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center.