Meet A'Mijah

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Child's Diagnosis: Transposition of the great arteries (TGA). Pulmonary Stenosis

Has Kerrington’s Heart impacted your journey? If so, how?:

They were a big help in the beginning of our journey.

Please share a little bit about your story:

A’Mijah was born in Madison County. I stayed super sick and in a lot of pain when pregnant with her. When she was born, and her cord was cut she immediately turned blue. There was an intern in the room during delivery via C-section who stated she had a heart defect. She was rushed to UK and once I came out of recovery, they rushed me to UK to be with her. She had her 1st open heart surgery at 6 days old to do the arterial switch to fix her heart. The night of her 8th day of life, A’Mijah had a blood clot form and caused tachycardia. They then had to re-open her and remove the blood clot that had made its way to her lung. When she returned to the room, they left her chest open (in case of any other emergencies.) I was told to kiss her goodbye. (They didn’t expect her to make it thru the night) Once she came back up to her own room, she was then on ECMO (blood transfusion) They closed her back up on the 11th day. She then had to have 2 more open heart surgeries since then. One at the age of 1 and one at the age of 4. She has been very stable since the last operation and now we are doing cath procedures yearly if needed to help with the pulmonary stenosis. She is my tough firecracker!!!


 

Meet Everly

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Child's Diagnosis: Coarctation of the aorta and Aortic stenosis

What’s one thing you wish you’d been told at the beginning of your journey?:

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Please share a little bit about your story:

My daughter was given an echo the day of her birth, 8 26 21, as recommended during my anatomy scan. It was found that she had Coarctation of the aorta and Aortic stenosis. She was air lifted to UK and given her first balloon Valvuloplasty the day after her birth and the correction of the Coarctation came in days to follow. The Coarctation was corrected but still being monitored and she has had a second balloon Valvuloplasty at 5 months old. We are still battling the Aortic stenosis and she will likely have surgery in the near future to repair the valve.