CINCINNATI (WXIX/Gray News) – A 6-month-old baby girl has been in a Cincinnati hospital since she was 7 days old after doctors discovered her heart wasn't pumping blood properly and needed a new heart. ing.
Caitlin Ganzi Rost said a week after her daughter Francesca was born in October, she noticed that her baby wasn't nursing as much as she used to. She took Francesca to her pediatrician, who rushed her to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. WXIX report.
“She's changed, and if I hadn't understood and known that, she wouldn't be here now,” Rost said. “I got her there by the nick of time.”
At the hospital, it was discovered that Francesca's heart was overworked.
“Her two chambers were not pumping in sync with each other because her heart was blocked. Her heart was therefore working too hard to feed the organs in her body,” Lost said. said.
Francesca was born a healthy baby, so doctors had a hard time finding out what was wrong. Rost said her daughter just tested positive for a cold. It is unclear where her baby contracted the virus, but her mother said that “the virus went directly to her heart and caused havoc.”
Francesca underwent open-heart surgery, and a week later doctors fitted her with a ventricular assist device (VAD) called the Berlin Heart. A VAD is a small device that is placed inside or outside the body to pump blood to the heart when the heart is too damaged to pump. According to children's books.
The baby was also placed on the heart transplant list. Rost didn't think much about donating his organs, but he says that's all he's thinking about now.
“She needs a donor who is not alive and that's scary. I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but knowing that your child will say yes to donation at their darkest moment , is the driving force that keeps me going,” Rost said.
While waiting for a donor, Francesca is thriving on VAD and achieving milestones that a 6-month-old baby should.
“From her belly to her back and back again. She can sit and play and sing and talk to us,” Rost said.
Francesca's new heart will allow her to live a normal life, her mother said, adding that she is excited to take her daughter home after the transplant. It's the house her daughter has seen since she was seven days old.
“Our family will be complete again. It's not like we're not complete yet, but we'll finally be together,” Rost said.
She added that without the children's hospital and doctors in the community, she wouldn't have known how to manage everything.
Information about becoming an organ donor can be found at: organdonor.gov.
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