Eva’s heart conditions were thankfully discovered at mum Jenny’s 20-week scan. Here, Jenny tells us their story and explains how beneficial this early detection was to their journey:
(The photos in this story were taken by and belong to the author, depicting their family’s personal journey.)
During our 20-week scan, the sonographer noticed something wasn’t quite right with Eva’s heart and referred us to a larger hospital for further tests.
One week later, Eva was diagnosed with pulmonary atresia with VSD and major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (MAPCAs).
This early detection gave us the time to prepare for what was to come. We spent a lot of time on the Tiny Tickers Facebook page looking for similar situations experienced by other families, and we read about what they had gone through.
Eva was born much healthier than we expected, which made the whole experience more manageable.
We spent almost a month at a specialist children’s hospital under the care of a cardiologist, trying to figure out the best next steps for Eva.
Fortunately, Eva was doing well, so the doctors let us go home.
After over a year of home life with regular check-ups, Eva was finally due for her first open heart surgery.
The day of Eva’s surgery arrived, and we had mixed feelings; we were scared but also felt positive about the outcome.
Eva had two open heart surgeries in one week due to the first not quite going to plan.
For the two weeks following Eva’s surgery, she was very poorly, but eventually, she began to show signs of improvement.
We are currently in our third week at the hospital. Eva is now off the ECMO machine and the invasive ventilator and is doing amazingly.
I will forever be grateful to the medical staff who spotted her heart condition early on and the staff who have helped her through her heart journey.
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