For most parents, a baby’s first cry is a moment of instant relief — proof of breath, life, and promise.
For Victoria Silvestri, it is a sound she has been waiting for every single day since her son was born — a sound she has never heard.
Victoria was just 27 when her pregnancy took an unexpected turn. At her 18-week scan, doctors discovered that her unborn son, Gavin, had cystic hygroma, a rare condition that caused hundreds of fluid-filled cysts to form across the lower half of his face. The cysts spread over his cheeks, chin, lips, and neck, distorting his features and threatening his ability to breathe even before birth.
From that moment on, fear became a constant companion. Victoria researched everything she could, asked endless questions, and tried to prepare herself for what lay ahead. Still, nothing could truly prepare her for the day Gavin entered the world.
She was scheduled for a C-section on February 8, but labor came a week early. Her husband, Joe Silvestri, also 27, was out of state coaching a college basketball game and couldn’t make it back in time. Instead, he watched his son’s birth through FaceTime — helpless, heartbroken, and miles away as their baby fought for his first breath.
The delivery room filled with doctors and nurses. The birth was high-risk, but everything unfolded as planned. The moment Gavin was born, he was rushed straight to intensive care at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Florida, where he has remained ever since.
“I wasn’t shocked when I saw him,” Victoria later said. “I had prepared myself from the moment I found out about his condition. All I saw was my baby.”
Inside the womb, cysts had formed tightly around Gavin’s windpipe, dangerously restricting his airway. During the C-section, doctors inserted a breathing tube directly into his trachea to keep him alive. That tube has remained ever since — and because of it, Gavin cannot cry.
For more than three months, Victoria has sat beside her son’s hospital bed, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, longing for the sound that would tell her he can finally breathe freely.
“He tries,” she said softly. “But he can’t. I’ve never once heard Gavin cry.”
Gavin’s entire life has been spent in intensive care. Machines hum around him. Monitors track every breath. He has already endured a grueling seven-hour surgery to remove dead tissue from his face caused by the cysts. His tiny body is still healing, and doctors must wait before determining the next steps.
Yet through everything, Victoria says her son remains calm and gentle — a strength no one expected from someone so small.
“He’s such a little warrior,” she said. “He’s peaceful. It’s incredible what he’s already been through.”
The hardest moments come when Victoria hears other mothers talk about sleepless nights and crying newborns.
“A lot of mums take for granted bringing a baby home,” she said. “It hurts, because I would give anything to be up all night listening to my baby cry.”
Still, hope remains. Doctors believe Gavin will need more procedures, but his parents are holding onto the possibility that he could finally come home next month. Once his surgical incision heals, doctors plan to fit him with a tracheostomy tube — a step that could allow him to leave the hospital for the first time.
At home, Gavin’s room is already waiting. His crib stands empty. His clothes are folded. His toys sit untouched, ready for hands that haven’t yet explored the world.
“I go home for a few hours sometimes,” Victoria said. “I walk into his room and just imagine him there. Everything is ready for him.”
Victoria draws strength from stories of other children born with cystic hygroma who are now thriving. One mother she connected with had a baby with the same condition just months earlier — and today that child is doing well. On the hardest days, that hope keeps her standing.
Though the road ahead is uncertain, Victoria holds onto one simple dream — a moment other parents may never think twice about.
“The first time I hear him laugh,” she said, her voice breaking. “Or the first time I hear him cry… that will be everything.”
Until that day comes, she waits by his side — listening to the quiet, loving her son, and learning that courage doesn’t always make a sound. Sometimes, it lives in silence.
