FULTON, Ill. (KWQC) – A Fulton family is celebrating the holidays at home this year after their baby girl Josie returned home following a life-saving heart transplant and 294 days in hospitals.
Josie Jane Hansen was born with an undiagnosed heart condition. At 2½ months old, she went into cardiac arrest twice and was flown to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. She survived four open-heart surgeries, including a full heart transplant on Oct. 6, and spent 268 days connected to machines in the cardiac ICU.
Multiple surgeries and life support
“She had cardiac arrest twice, had to be put on the ECMO life-support machine emergently through her neck. And then we flew her to Chicago on the helicopter, Flight for Life, to DeLurie Children’s. And then it’s been a whirlwind ever since,” said Joe Hansen, Josie’s father.
Doctors performed four open-heart surgeries until they inserted a heart pump while she waited for a donor heart.
“Everything that she’s been through and everything that the children that we’ve watched go through on the cardio floor is nothing compared to anything that we’ll ever go through. And so I just have to power through each day,” said Staci Hansen, Josie’s mother.
The call for a donor heart
After nearly six months on the transplant list, the call they had been waiting for finally came.
“We got the call. We got the perfect donor heart. So I immediately called Staci, and she had some pretty strong reactions, of course, too. And then she hopped in the car and made the 2½ hour drive back that night. We held our girl all night and prepared for the morning,” Joe Hansen said.
The Hansens returned home right before Thanksgiving. Josie is now 13 months old, and her parents say she’s thriving.
“We really wanted to show the importance of organ donation,” Joe Hansen said. “I think on social media there’s so much misinformation out there. It gets spread around so easily that we really wanted to just show people that this is what it really is. And it’s really about saving lives. And our beautiful girl wouldn’t be here without it.”
The Hansens say Josie Jane will continue lifelong checkups and medication. They hope sharing her story encourages more families to consider organ donation.
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