Shawna Albright’s 18 weeks ultrasound revealed that all was not well with the baby. The doctor told the parents about their baby’s heart defect and thought that she would not survive.
“He sat us down and told us she had no chance,” Shawna said. “There wasn’t anyone in the world that was going to be able to fix her.”
The couple, who was living in Washington State at that time, consulted another doctor in Seattle who suggested they speak to a reputed surgeon at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford who could help – Dr. Frank Hanley.
The surgeon said he could help and asked the family to relocate to Modesto. He is known throughout the world for his exceptional skills in working with tiniest of blood vessels as fine as spaghetti strands.
“He told us she had an 80 percent chance; I needed to deliver here so I had to come here when I was 32 weeks pregnant,” Shawna said.
According to Dr. Gail Right, “So the position of the pumping chambers, the ventricles of the heart, were reversed. There is a hole between the two pumping chambers and the valve that normally connects the heart out to the lungs was absent.”
The newborn had her first operation just days after she was born and two more later.
For her father Don, it was an emotional experience.
“A lot of fear, a lot of questions, a lot of anxiety, a lot of worry,” Don said. “Here is my little girl coming into the world and now she has to fight for her life.”
“Everybody is just proud of this little girl and everybody is just amazed at how well she is doing; she is definitely showing that she is a fighter and that she can handle it,” Don said.
Related Articles:
- Seven Organ Transplants Save Baby Girl given 24 Hours to Live
- Brave Toddler Endures Five Open-Heart Surgeries
- Paralyzed Crash Survivor Gives Birth to a Healthy Baby Boy
- Surgery Saves Baby with Mango-Sized Tumor on her Neck
