Post by Admin on Feb 2, 2008 21:42:28 GMT -5
Roxanne Follett, a 36-year-old nurse from Grande Prairie, Alta., named her daughter Miracle.
"I want everyone to know that she's my miracle baby," she told reporters.
Dr. Billy Wong delivered Miracle by caesarean section on Jan. 24, while surgeons readied themselves to repair Follett's torn aorta. The heart vessel had ruptured 35 weeks into Follett's pregnancy.
Wong said the operation seemed like an episode of a TV medical drama.
"They could make an episode of Grey's Anatomy or ER based on this because it is one of those rare cases we will probably never deal with again," he told a press conference at the University of Alberta Hospital.
It took doctors less than an hour to deliver Miracle, and within moments, surgeons began an eight-hour emergency procedure to save Follett's life.
Dr. Roderick MacArthur, who helped in the heart surgery, said the entire operation was both extremely rare and dangerous.
In the last 25 years, only 40 such surgical cases have been reported worldwide, and none before in Canada. Both the mother and child survived in only 18 of those cases.
"So they were in a very high-risk situation," said MacArthur. "They've been very fortunate that both of them have done very well."
Doctors had to cool Follett's body temperature and drain her blood with a heart-lung machine soon after the caesarian section.
"We drain all the blood from the body, fix the aneurysm and fill the body back up with blood and come off the heart-lung machine," said MacArthur. "It's almost certain that the baby would not survive that operation."
Wong said it was a "team effort" for the doctors.
"We were quite concerned that Roxanne would be at really high risk and not make it through surgery," he said.
Follett's husband, Douglas Follett, said his wife convinced doctors to go ahead with the operation.
"She said, 'Go all the way or go home,'" he told CTV Edmonton. "By that statement, they knew she was a fighter."
Miracle -- her full name is Miracle Astra Alice Alfreda Follett -- will stay under observation at the University of Alberta Hospital for the next few weeks.
"I want everyone to know that she's my miracle baby," she told reporters.
Dr. Billy Wong delivered Miracle by caesarean section on Jan. 24, while surgeons readied themselves to repair Follett's torn aorta. The heart vessel had ruptured 35 weeks into Follett's pregnancy.
Wong said the operation seemed like an episode of a TV medical drama.
"They could make an episode of Grey's Anatomy or ER based on this because it is one of those rare cases we will probably never deal with again," he told a press conference at the University of Alberta Hospital.
It took doctors less than an hour to deliver Miracle, and within moments, surgeons began an eight-hour emergency procedure to save Follett's life.
Dr. Roderick MacArthur, who helped in the heart surgery, said the entire operation was both extremely rare and dangerous.
In the last 25 years, only 40 such surgical cases have been reported worldwide, and none before in Canada. Both the mother and child survived in only 18 of those cases.
"So they were in a very high-risk situation," said MacArthur. "They've been very fortunate that both of them have done very well."
Doctors had to cool Follett's body temperature and drain her blood with a heart-lung machine soon after the caesarian section.
"We drain all the blood from the body, fix the aneurysm and fill the body back up with blood and come off the heart-lung machine," said MacArthur. "It's almost certain that the baby would not survive that operation."
Wong said it was a "team effort" for the doctors.
"We were quite concerned that Roxanne would be at really high risk and not make it through surgery," he said.
Follett's husband, Douglas Follett, said his wife convinced doctors to go ahead with the operation.
"She said, 'Go all the way or go home,'" he told CTV Edmonton. "By that statement, they knew she was a fighter."
Miracle -- her full name is Miracle Astra Alice Alfreda Follett -- will stay under observation at the University of Alberta Hospital for the next few weeks.