1 in 100 babies are born with a congenital heart defect. At our second routine ultrasound, an abnormality was discovered in Marceline's heart. A fetal echocardiogram confirmed our little girl had an atrioventricular septal defect.

 

When she was born on March 11, 2025, they confirmed no changes in her heart and she would require a reparative surgery within the months after birth. By May, symptoms of heart failure progressed quickly and aggressively. Her circulation was so high that she couldn't hold any weight, her lungs filled with fluid, and her respiratory rate was too fast to safely eat by mouth. This resulted in her first admission to the hospital.

 

Marcy was put on a heavy dose of diuretics and had a feeding tube placed so she could hopefully gain weight until she was big enough for the reparative surgery. Her heart failure had progressed too far and she needed a surgical intervention to band the pulmonary artery to get the circulation under control until the repair could be made. 

 

Now, three hospital admissions and one surgery down, we have (hopefully) one more to go until the holes are repaired and she is heart healthy! We will be walking to honor the tough fight she has already been through, and more to come. Please protect the scientific enterprise and contribute by donating or sharing to spread the word about life saving intervention made possible by the amazing researchers and practitioners dedicated to heart health.