Madeline Sadie

On the morning of September 4, Madeline "Sadie" made her entrance into this world. Sadie had a very rapid birth, arriving only seventeen minutes after her parents entered the labor and delivery room. Upon birth, she cried, and her mother was relieved—her first daughter had been born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck so tightly that she had to be revived for several minutes. Little did her parents know that, though her mother had several "abnormal" ultrasounds, her OB-GYN had failed to detect that Sadie had a life-threatening heart defect.

Sadie's parents watched with growing concern as the nurses tried to "pink up" their tiny daughter. After a few minutes, a nurse brought the baby over for her parents to see briefly before whisking her away to the nursery for intervention.

Minutes turned into hours before, finally, the doctors came in to tell Sadie's parents that she had a heart defect called Transposition of the Great Arteries, or TGA. TGA results in the aorta and pulmonary vein being transposed, causing the blood to flow in a parallel circuit, preventing oxygenation. Open heart surgery was required to save little Sadie's life.

Sadie was rushed to the nearest location to undergo treatment and surgery. On the way out of the hospital, the transport team let Sadie's parents see her and hold her hand through the incubator, tubes and machinery that were keeping her tiny body alive. Already she had began to turn blue and swell and was barely recognizable from the baby they had seen for only moments earlier that evening after delivery.

After her arrival at the UVA PICU, it took 11 days to stabilize Sadie enough so that she could undergo an arterial switch surgery. During that time her family was constantly prepared for the worst case scenario. Many different doctors throughout those trying days tried to prepare her family when it appeared that her kidneys were likely failing, that her pulmonary hypertension would be permanent, that she may be disabled as a result of lack of oxygen to the brain, and even that she may lose toes or an entire foot due to the poor circulation. On more than one occasion nurses told her mother that they had never seen a baby with TGA that was "so sick".

Finally, 11 days after her birth, Sadie underwent surgery. The day before the surgery Sadie had opened her eyes for the first time that her mother had seen. For her mom, it was the reassurance she needed that the surgery would be successful, and that Sadie was alive and intelligent behind the veil of her drug-induced coma. Four hours later, Sadie was in recovery—the operation was successful.

After Sadie's surgery, she made a remarkable recovery—stunning the doctors, nurses and caregivers alike. On one of the last days of her stay in the PICU, Sadie's mother finally summoned the courage to ask one of the doctors what the long-term prognosis and implications of the defects would be for Sadie. He said that after Sadie healed, her family could expect to have "a normal baby".

A little more than two weeks after surgery, Sadie was released to go home. Though she faced several months of severe withdrawal symptoms from narcotics (similar to the reaction a heroin addict has when trying to break the addiction), she gradually became the normal baby that the PICU doctor predicted she would be. No ill effects have been found to date in regard to heart, coronary, kidney, brain, lung or muscle damage from those early days of heart failure.

Today, Sadie is a healthy and active one-year old. She is extremely bright, inquisitive, feisty and headstrong, and her development is considered normal. She loves music and playing with her big sister, Katie.

In the future, Sadie is expected to lead a normal life. As she grows, her heart will be closely monitored through annual checkups with her cardiologist to ensure that it is growing properly, and that the transposed vessels grow with it. Only time can tell if additional surgeries will be needed, though her outlook is bright.