A Baby Was Born With Half A Heart, Given Zero Chance Of And Her Life Now
A Baby Was Born With Half A Heart, Given Zero Chance Of Survival And Her Life Now
Miracle three-month-old baby Dorothea Fenrych-Velez was born with only half a working heart — yet after a truly amazing battle for survival she is now thriving.
When her mum Zofia had her 16-week scan she was told that unborn Dorothea’s condition — hypo-plastic left heart syndrome, a birth defect — was so severe that she should teminate the pregnancy. Knowing her baby had zero chance of survival without expert help Zofia, 40, and her partner Rob, refused to give up and began a worldwide search for medical help.
Then, via Facebook, the couple discovered a surgeon in Britain who would do it for free. But when baby Dorothea was born she was so sick that the hospital scheduled for the procedure cancelled the op. Doctors only agreed it could go ahead after a human rights lawyer stepped in. The youngster has been under the care of several hospitals and the operation was finally conducted at the Royal Brompton Hospital in South West London.
“The condition means the left-hand side of the heart is missing and that’s the side that does all the work, the right side. We were told Dorothea couldn’t survive and that the expensive, complex surgery to rewire the right-hand side of the heart, so it can do the job of the left, was too risky. But there was no way I was ever going to give up on my little girl and let her go. Dorothea is our miracle. “
“We stumbled across a doctor on Facebook who was an expert in HLHS. And he was in London, just 45 miles from our home.” she said . Dr Guido Michielon responded to Rob and Zofia straight away and agreed to perform surgery after Dorothea’s birth. She was born by C-section at 37 weeks on July 7 this year, weighing 6lb. Dorothea underwent the 12-hour operation, performed by skilled heart surgeon .
Rob said: “We were called when she came out of the operation to say she was well.We won’t stop fighting for our little girl. She was expected to be kept in the intensive care unit for months, but on August 30 she was moved to a high dependency unit.”
For now, Dorothea will remain in hospital until she is due to have another operation at six months of age, as her heart grows. She will then be able to go home and have further surgery when she is three, and that should take her up to adulthood. She is a miracle and is living proof of developments in the medical industry.
