A woman in Vallejo, California, is traumatized after a violent attack by home intruders over the summer left her seriously wounded and grieving the loss of her daughter who fought to survive. Desire Guardiola, who was pregnant at the time of the attack, tried to think quickly as home invaders held both her and her ex-boyfriend hostage in July. As the thieves rummaged through the couple's home, the mom-to-be attempted to yell for assistance — only to be shot in the stomach by one of them, fatally wounding her unborn daughter.
The incident happened on July 20, when introducers kicked in the door at Guardiola's home in Vallejo.
Speaking with CafeMom, Guardiola says she was sorting through baby items the moment her life changed forever.
"I hid for a second in the room until I heard a man's voice ask where I was," she recalls, noting how terrified she was. "I walked out the room only to be introduced to a girl holding a knife and to see a man holding a gun at my ex-boyfriend's head."
Guardiola says she had never seen the intruders before, and asked who they were and what they wanted. But the story only got more disturbing from there.
"They were supposedly sent to rob my ex-boyfriend, because he had some problems with their cousin," she explains. "Long story short, they robbed us at gun- and knife-point, taking everything they felt was valuable, including our phones, my car keys, and my identification … belongings that were in my purse, as well as some cash I was saving for the baby."
The couple did all they could to fend off the attackers, with Guardiola's ex even fighting back to retrieve important documents that were taken.
It was then that the mom-to-be saw an opportunity to make a run for it, and she seized it.
"As I ran out the apartment, I screamed for help that someone broke into my house and had a gun and knife," she tells CafeMom.
But tragically, things turned even more violent just moments later.
"As I approached my ex-boyfriend outside, fighting for the belongings back, I heard a gunshot and felt an intense pain spread throughout my stomach," she says. "I had been shot."
The mom-to-be was stunned. She covered up the wound as best she could, but the intense pain prevented her from taking another step.
Clutching her stomach, she fell to her knees in the middle of the street. All she could do was sit there and pray that help would come.
"As the suspects tried to escape, they headed toward the entrance gate which was closed," she continues. "On their way back, they sped toward me in the middle of the street, [but] by that time neighbors were outside calling the cops, and luckily one moved me out of the street as the suspects exited."
Guardiola says that by the time the paramedics arrived, she could no longer feel her baby girl moving inside her.
"I knew something was wrong," she says. "They [later] found two bullet entry wounds and in the EMS ride detected no heartbeat."
Once they made it to the hospital, doctors ordered an emergency C-section.
Guardiola has little memory of what happened next, as she was quickly put to sleep. But she does remember waking -- and learning her baby was gone.
Following the surgery, doctors informed Guardiola that although her daughter Emery had been delivered, the newborn didn't have a heartbeat at birth and had to be resuscitated.
"Due to the amount of blood loss and the time I was bleeding out (30 to 45 minutes), she was completely brain dead and had to immediately be airlifted to a hospital that could help her fight for her life," Guardiola tells CafeMom.
"The doctors and nurses in both hospitals were so great, and my family, as well as Emery’s dad and his family, were there every day through our battles for support," she continues.
But even though the hospital staff was doing everything they could, little Emery was only surviving on life support, and the outlook seemed grim. Guardiola says the newborn was having a lot of seizures and doctors knew there was little hope of her surviving.
"As I was in the hospital, I asked for a baptism for Emery," she continues, explaining that although doctors didn’t expect the baby girl to live much longer, she wanted to make sure the little girl would be baptized and "saved to go to Heaven if she passed."
The hospital staff obliged. Even though the ceremony was incredibly emotional — as well as painful for Guardiola, who was still recovering from her C-section — she says it was "beautiful."
"I can’t express in many words the joy I felt once I was discharged and allowed to go be with my baby girl," she recalls. "I thanked God and still thank God every day for allowing me to have her and for the family to have her over those days which she was here on Earth."
In the end, Emery lived for just eight days before Guardiola made the difficult decision to take her off life support.
"When I arrived to her hospital, the doctors informed me of how severe her condition was," she says, adding that they told her Emery's brain stem was "completely dead" and that there would be "no way she could breathe on her own, cry, crawl, eat, walk, read, write, do anything on her own."
Guardiola admits that she hesitated before making her decision, but in the end she came to see that Emery's health wasn't going to improve.
"On the 28th of July we decided it was time to put our love for her in front of all else we were feeling or wanting and gave the doctor permission to take her off the tubes," the grieving mother tells CafeMom. "I was allowed to hold her in my arms the entire time and have whoever I wanted in there.
"Once they took off the tubes, they warned us that she may be able to breathe for a little bit or a few days given that her body was getting used to the machine," she continues. "I prayed and prayed for her to be able to breathe on her own for a little while so we could all see her without her tubes."
As it turned out, Emery did manage to breathe on her own for 30 minutes, and when she was ready, she passed away peacefully in her mother's arms.
Two months after the tragedy, the mom's story is touching new hearts, after her god-sister penned a heartfelt Facebook post from Emery's perspective.
"They say I will never be able to open my eyes or do anything at all," the post reads. "I’m sorry mommy, I really am trying. I don’t know why those people did this to us. Why they’d hurt me or my mommy."
"But today a man named Jesus told me he was going to make me all better, said I would be one of his angels," it continues. "I would be able to watch over my mommy and my entire family. I'm so excited. I am never going to leave my mommy’s side. I can see now, I see my mommy. She is so beautiful but she is crying, everyone is crying. I can see a baby in a white dress. I think she’s sleeping. Oh … I think she’s me."
The moving tribute, which was posted on August 6, has been shared more than 89,000 times and garnered over 19,000 reactions. But its message isn't just about telling the world that Emery existed — it was also written as a call for justice.
"The man and women who did this have been arrested," the post concludes. "The family of Emery Skye NEEDS justice. Their arrest is just the beginning."
Guardiola tells CafeMom that she's grateful and happy to see the post being shared far and wide.
"I am very appreciative of her sharing the story in that point of view," she says, "because not only does it give us Emery’s voice, but it's brought us a lot of support from people all over the world! I’ve had so many women contact me via Facebook and provide tons of love and support and prayers!"
In the end, the mom says that her faith is what has ultimately kept her going, even through her darkest moments.
"If you chose to open yourself up to Him and take your pain and emotions to Him, He will pour His love out into you and give you strength you didn’t have before," she says.
Friends and family are raising funds on GoFundMe to help pay for Emery's headstone and Guardiola's medical bills, which will hopefully relieve some unnecessary stress from an already difficult time.
In the meantime, cops have arrested suspects Andrew Nino and Kiara Paz, both 18, and Alyssa Brianna Vega, 29, the Daily Mail reports. All three are facing charges of first-degree felony aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
