Miracle Five-Month-Old Baby With Half a Heart Comes Home After Heart Transplant

National   |   Sarah Zagorski   |   May 8, 2015   |   6:04PM   |   Nashville, TN

In Tennessee, a five-month-old baby is headed home after having a heart transplant.

The little girl, Addison Stanton, had a heart defect during birth and was sent to Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University. Addison’s father, Corey, said, “It’s still nerve-racking the stuff that can happen, but hopefully the worst is all behind us.”

In December 2014, doctors realized there was a problem with Addison’s oxygen levels so she was placed in the NICU, where they discovered she had Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome (HRHS). Unfortunately, few of the 600 babies diagnosed with the condition every year survive and many die within days of birth. The American Heart Association says the condition occurs when the right structures of the heart, including the chambers, valves and related blood vessels, are underdeveloped.

Pediatrician Amy Marlow said, “The hypoplastic right heart in general is not very common. For her to have done this well is also not common, so she’s a miracle baby for sure.” Addison’s mother, April, added, “It feels great to have to be able to know the doctors and nurses we’re going to and to be familiar with the area. We have to go back once a week to Nashville for a few months, and she has different specialists we have to see.”

Corey and April explained that although the surgery is over there will be a lot of adjustments made for their daughter in the next year. Corey said, “She’s on 18 different medicines right now, and we give them all to her throughout the day.” However, April said that overall their daughter is doing well. She concluded, “…With all eyes on her, she’s taking the chance to show off and she’s got quite the personality. She smiles quite a bit, but she’s still grumpy.”

As LifeNews previously reported, a baby boy who was born with a similar condition known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome recently turned twenty. In total, John Paul has had three heart surgeries and brain surgery but now thanks God for his survival. He said, “I just basically try to thank God for saving my life. If it wasn’t for God, I would not be here.”

His parents, Derek and Annette George, were advised to abort but immediately refused. Annette George told the TODAY show, “Faith, number one, made us say no. The only option that we foresaw with our faith was if our child only had nine months to live, then we were going to give him nine months in the womb and let God decide once the child was born.”

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