A baby girl who was born with her heart beating outside of her body has gone home for the first time today, after she was given a protective shell to keep her heart safe.
Baby Audrina Cardenas was born in October with a rare congenital disease called ectopia cordis, where her heart formed outside the chest.
The disease affects only one in eight million babies. Nine out of 10 sufferers are stillborn or die within three days.
But the three-and-a-half-month-old miracle defied the odds when she was released from Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and taken home by her mother Ashley Cardenas.
Baby Audrina left the hospital with a pink external heart shield that she will wear to protect her heart as she grows. In a few more years, Audrina will have surgery to place a more protective shield inside her chest wall.
Mum Ashley and her baby Audrina
Ashley Cardinas found out about her daughter’s life-threatening condition when she was 16 weeks pregnant. She was given the option of abortion, to carry her baby knowing she would pass away or to have doctors construct a hole in her baby’s chest shortly after birth in an attempt to make room for the heart.
“After my doctors explained just how sick my baby was and what options I had, it didn’t matter how scared I was, I knew I had to do anything possible to save my daughter’s life,” Ashley said.
Ashley gave birth on October 15th via Caesarian section and the next day her daughter had heart surgery.
But the infant isn’t in the clear yet, surgeons said that she’ll need more surgeries in coming years to repair defects in her heart. They aren’t sure about how strong she will be in the future but right now they have confirmed that her prognosis is good.
