JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Having a baby is a miraculous thing and parents just want their baby to be healthy.
But sometimes, things don’t go as planned.
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Now, Wolfson and Nemours have a new way to help families prepare for some difficult times.
“Every year, one out of every 125 babies that are born is born with a heart defect,” Dr. Rajesh Shanoi, Chief of Cardiology at Nemours Children’s Health, said.
Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect. It can lead to some tragic outcomes if it’s not caught early.
“So it was not uncommon for me to be on call and get a call from the emergency department that a two-day-old or a three-day old that had just come home would come in very sick, ashen,” Shanoi said.
Recently, Wolfson Children’s Hospital got a new, state-of-the art machine. It can help diagnose possible defects in utero before any major problems occur.
“Now imagine, if you will, that the family had no clue that this was happening. It would be very difficult for them to come to terms with this immediately after a baby is born,” Shanoi said.
One mom knows how critical early detection can be.
“And it prepared my family to know what steps we were going to need to take, how we were going to prepare for our daughter’s birth, the possibilities of what could happen once she was born to know that we were gonna have a long road ahead of us,” Amber Kneessi said.
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Kneessi said knowledge is power and her family was able to make a plan and discuss her baby’s road to recovery.
“You know what your life may look like when your child is born because I think it’s probably very different than, you know, a standard birth and healthy child,” Kneessi said.
The fetal echo machine was bought for Wolfson in partnership with The Healing Hearts Project, a local charity serving congenital heart defect patients and their families.
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“It’s just been a huge support to myself, to my husband. We’ve been able to connect with other heart families to know that you’re not alone in this,” Kneessi said.
“We do not want any family that has a fetus or a child or even an adult with congenital heart disease to have to leave Jacksonville to obtain world class care,” Shanoi said.
If you’d like to learn more about the Healing Hearts Project, click here.
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