The baby girl who was born with her heart beating outside of her body was released from the hospital after having a pink protective shell secured to her body.
Audrina Cardenas was born with a rare congenital disease where her heart formed outside the chest; though the disease affects only one in eight million.
On Wednesday, Audrina defied the odds though because she was released from Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and was able to be taken home by her mother Ashley Cardenas.
The happy youngster left the hospital with a pink external heart shield that she will wear moving forward to protect her heart as she grows. In a few years she will have surgery to place a more permanent protective shield inside her chest wall.
It is a relief for Audrina’s mother who has had sleepless nights every since she found out about her daughter’s life-threatening condition at a routine check-up when she was 16 weeks pregnant.
Ms Cardenas was given three difficult options – abort the baby, carry her to term knowing she would die, or have doctors to construct a hole in her baby’s chest shortly after birth in an attempt to make room for the heart.
She said: ‘After my doctors explained just how sick my baby was and what options I had, it didn’t matter how scared I was, I knew I had to do anything possible to save my daughter’s life.’
She was evaluated by Texas Children’s Fetal Center a few weeks before she was scheduled for delivery. They gave her an ultrasound, foetal heart scan and foetal MRI and found that a third of the baby’s heart was outside her body.
On October 15, Ms Cardenas gave birth via caesarian section the next day her daughter was whisked away for heart surgery.
Dr. Larry Hollier, chief of plastic surgery at the hospital, said: ‘Once the cardiac surgeons were finished operating on Audrina, the plastic surgery team played a pivotal role in completing this surgery as we were responsible for covering her heart beneath her skin and muscle.’
Five weeks later doctors declared the little girl was out of the woods and yesterday she was finally allowed home after they said she was ‘doing very well.’
But the infant isn’t in the clear yet – surgeons said that she’ll need more surgeries in coming years to repair defects in her heart.
However, they must wait for Audrina to heal and gain strength before attempting any additional procedures.
Audrina will need to see a cardiologist for the rest of her life, but doctors said the prognosis is good.
Dr Carolyn Altman, a pediatric cardiologist at the hospital, said in a release: ‘Despite Audrina’s misplaced heart, she was born with no other syndromes or genetic conditions that would cause additional stress or complications on her heart.
‘Although her future prognosis is uncertain, Audrina is currently thriving and making progress each day.’
