PARKER — Like most babies, Isabella Daley likes being rocked in the arms of her older siblings or having her chin tickled.

Her curiosity is obvious from her eyes moving about the room, taking it all in, stopping on the sign above the hallway in the Daley home — "Home is where your story begins."

And finding a home is where 13-month-old Isabella's story truly began.

Isabella was born with a slew of serious medical problems and without a family to care for her.

"When we had decided to do foster parenting, we looked into medically needy children," said Betsy Daley, the girl's adoptive mother.

"We've done it for about two years with kids with disabilities or behavioral issues. We fell in love with them every time, and we had our hearts broken, so we decided to look for one who was legally up for adoption."

Betsy and her husband, David Daley, found Isabella on a Web site, www.adoptpakids.org, and realized immediately the girl's adoption, and subsequent care, would be daunting.

Isabella was born to drug-addicted parents, and her father abused the mother during pregnancy, resulting in a spinal cord injury that left Isabella partially paralyzed and with her arms curled inward.

She was born addicted to cocaine and was placed on morphine and fentanyl for 10 months to cope with withdrawal symptoms.

Additionally, half of the girl's intestines developed outside her body, a phenomenon known as gastroschisis, and the other half failed shortly thereafter.

She still feeds through a central line, a tube connected directly to her heart.

Isabella lived on a ventilator at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Altoona, where she was born, until she was 9 months old.

"Our adoption agency, Family Pathways, had never dealt with a child outside of Butler County before," Betsy Daley said.

But then fate intervened. Isabella's condition worsened, and she was flown by medical jet to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

She was in need of a small bowel transplant — and possibly a liver transplant — but orphans in Pennsylvania are not eligible for the transplant list.

"The donation rate for infants is very, very small. These kids in Bella's situation have to wait until they are 2, 3 or 4 years old to get a donation," David Daley said.

"When tragedies happen, people don't think to donate their child's organs. A year ago, I wouldn't have."

On Oct. 26, the Daleys were allowed to meet Isabella for the first time.

"When we met her at Children's Hospital, after we left, it felt like we were leaving our baby behind," Betsy Daley said.

David Daley felt the connection, as well.

"Some children, you can tell they want someone around. She was different. She needed us," he said.

Throughout the next two weeks, the Daleys and Betsy's three children, Bailey, 15, Michaela, 14, and Jake, 10, were not permitted to visit Isabella and underwent all of the necessary procedures for adoption, from home studies to mounds of paperwork.

"Two weeks had gone by, and we hadn't heard from the adoption agency, so we called (Isabella's) social worker directly, which you're not really supposed to do," Betsy Daley said.

Finally, on Nov. 15, the family was told it could adopt Isabella, a child they had met once, barely been allowed to touch and never held.

The news was particularly emotional for the children, who deeply cared for their other foster siblings, particularly a pair of young girls the family had taken in on three separate occasions, only to see them returned to their family after about a year.

"It's really hard for me because I get so attached to them," Bailey said.

"We've been promised many times that we could adopt and then (the children) were taken away."

Jake said he wasn't surprised at the news.

"I was happy knowing we can help her, but sad that no one else would do it (until then)," he said.

Michaela said it was comforting knowing Isabella would find a permanent home.

"We weren't going to be disappointed anymore. We'd get to be with her forever," she said.

By Dec. 14, Isabella had been removed from her ventilator and, after doing very well, was allowed out of the hospital for the first time to go home with the Daleys.

"Everything has to be really clean," Bailey said.

Hand sanitizer dispensers are on the walls in every room of the Daley house, each with a pair of medical clamps attached to the side, in case air gets into the central line or if blood starts flowing outward.

To be eligible for a transplant, Isabella would have to be in the operating room six hours after the organs become available and cannot be sick at all, not even a sniffle.

"We are constantly waiting for that phone call," Betsy Daley said.

Although children are supposed to live in a home for six months before adoption, Butler County Judge Thomas Doerr approved the adoption Jan. 8, because of Isabella's pressing medical needs.

Isabella needs a bowel transplant because hers do not absorb nutrients at all.Intravenous nutrition, while it sustains Isabella's nutritional needs, damages her liver, which is now in end stage failure.Although she is on the status 1 transplant list — the highest status — children's organs are uncommon."She had been off the (transplant) list for so long because she didn't have a family," Betsy Daley said.The death of an infant or toddler is usually because of disease or tragedy, rendering those organs unusable, and Betsy and David become emotional when considering the prospect of available organs."You want to save your child, but at what cost? Nobody hopes for a tragedy," David Daley said.Until she can get the transplant, a nurse visits once a week to check on Isabella and change her dressings.The intravenous nutrients that sustain her are injected into her central line by David or Betsy several times a day, and Bailey has learned the task in case of an emergency.Isabella's nervous system, as a result of her spinal injury, has difficulty regulating temperature. A degree or two increase from a healthy 98.6 degrees means a trip to Children's Hospital, which is 90 minutes away."Literally, they'll have her in a thin blanket with ice packs around," Betsy Daley said."She can go really low, too, and you'll have to warm her with a heating pad."Isabella's spine narrows like an hourglass around the nerves controlling her arms, compressing 10 million nerves into the space for one million.

She can still use her legs, but shows signs of torso paralysis, and doctors don't know if she will ever walk.Following a successful transplant, Isabella will need multiple surgeries to correct range of movement in her arms and possible numbness in her hands.The Daleys hope to avoid a liver transplant through the use of Omegaven, a drug specifically designed to reverse liver damage caused by using intravenous nutrients.But Omegaven is experimental and not covered by insurance. It costs about $3,000 per month.Betsy Davis does not work. Trained as a nurse at UPMC Shadyside Hospital, she stays home full-time to care for Isabella. David works as an engineer for Standard Bent Glass.The Daleys face that cost, as well as the six months Isabella would spend in the hospital following the risky small bowel transplant.They have been told there is only about a 40 percent chance Isabella will digest food normally, even if the operation is successful.Intestines are difficult to transplant, the procedure having been done for just more than a decade, because the organ becomes inflamed as soon as it is touched. It also is prone to kinking, requires the connection of thousands of blood vessels and could be rejected."It was brutal. We sat in classes at the hospital where they tell you the chances of every horrible thing that could go wrong," David Daley said.Still, the family said it feels whole."I don't think we could put the kids through another foster situation," Betsy Daley said.Bailey said the stability is welcome."Michaela and I are getting older, and our family had sort of started off in our own directions. She (Isabella) pulled us close together again," she said.Jake chimes in, "She's like super glue!"The children all pitch in to help their new little sister, having become accustomed to selflessness during hospital visits and welcoming foster siblings."She's easier to care for than most babies. I'm so happy we don't have to wash out baby bottles anymore," Michaela said.Betsy and David Daley work around Isabella's weekly physical and occupational therapy, as well as trips to the hospital for intestinal care.In a little orange appointment book, they balance the elder children's cheerleading, volleyball and weightlifting, too."Bella has given us just as much back as we have given her," David Daley said.While her conditions set her apart from other babies, Isabella is a lot like her peers.She is quick to giggle and quicker to scowl suspiciously at a clicking camera.And when she gets tired, she gets cranky and her parents put her to bed, always hoping tomorrow will bring the phone call that changes their infant daughter's life.For information or to visit Isabella online, she is on Facebook under "Saving Bella."