A babies’ ultrasound indicated that the left side of his heart was not developing, a rare condition that affects a small percentage of babies in the womb.
The baby was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome an occurrence in one in every 6,000 children born. The left side of the heart stops developing in the womb because of lack of blood flow.
The mother of the child, Jenny Rodgers, who was expecting to give birth in just a few months, told Fox News that the news itself was “earth shattering,” and went on to say, “When you’re talking about your baby, 85 percent is a pretty bad number. We’re lucky because a lot of these go undiagnosed. A lot of these babies, moms take them home and at two days old they start having issues, start turning blue, have difficulty feeding or go into cardiac arrest.”
Children usually develop cardiac arrest because the left side of the heart is responsible for transporting oxygenated blood throughout the body as the right side then tries to recuperate the lack of blood flow by working twice as hard.
Dr. Nancy Ayres, Medical Director of Non-Invasive Imaging and Director of the Fetal Cardiology program at Texas Children’s Hospital, has been meeting and treating Rodgers, stating to Fox, “In the fetus, the right side of the heart does a little more work than the left, so these babies thrive in utero and do well.”
Ayres reported that both sides of the Roger’s baby’s heart was not developing properly, but despite the complications and struggles, Roger’s delivered her baby last May, and the child, who they named Aiden, had to go through surgery just four days out of the womb. He was able to leave the hospital after six weeks of treatment.
“The best outcome for delivery of a baby, with HLHS, would be at a major medical center that can actually take care and are available for emergency procedures after the baby goes from in utero to normal structures those are the life connections for a baby with, HLHS,” stated Ayres.
Photo By: Texas Children’s/Rodgers family
