The Story of Ella Grace Strunk - A Broken Heart Mended
“Your daughter was born with a heart defect that requires surgery. We need to transfer her immediately to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children for further evaluation and treatment.”
Heart defect? Surgery? The words hit me like a ton of bricks. My mind went blank; my body went numb. Feelings of sadness, anger and guilt washed over me as I realized our baby girl would not be coming home with us.
Our daughter, Ella Grace, was barely three days old when she was diagnosed with coarctation of the aorta (CoA) – a heart defect characterized by the narrowing of the aorta, the main artery that delivers oxygen-rich blood to the body.
Ella’s condition came as an utter shock. Throughout my entire pregnancy, every ultrasound revealed a perfect baby. At birth, she weighed a healthy seven pounds, eight ounces and showed no signs of heart disease. But forty-eight hours later, Ella’s heart began to fail and symptoms became evident.
A severe heart murmur, coupled with high blood pressure prompted Ella’s pediatrician, Dr. Tiffany Sergi of Reading Pediatrics to order an echocardiogram (sonogram of the heart). Results revealed the severity of the narrowing and it was determined that Ella would need surgery to improve heart function and ultimately prevent death. Within hours, she was transported and admitted to the Cardiac Care Unit at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.
Six (very long) days later, Ella underwent an operation to mend her broken heart – a cardiothoracic surgeon removed the narrowed section and connected the remaining two ends to each other. Nearly seven weeks later, Ella came home and our family was finally complete.
Today she is a happy baby - smiling, giggling and babbling! At nine months old, she is no longer on medication and is a healthy 21 pounds and 30 inches long. She continues to follow up with a cardiologist, as the narrowing can sometimes return and further surgery will be needed to reopen the aorta. But right now, her heart looks great!
We are forever grateful to the talented and dedicated team of doctors and nurses that cared for Ella during her first eight weeks of life. As first time parents, it was an emotional journey and the compassion demonstrated by the entire St. Chris family provided the support and guidance we needed to persevere through this experience.
Of the thousands of babies born with cardiovascular defects each year, approximately 10 percent are diagnosed with coarctation of the aorta. If left untreated, it can lead to congestive heart failure. We are thankful to the American Heart Association for funding pediatric cardiac research.
Maegan & Kevin Strunk
The American Heart Association is excited to announce the “Billion Calorie Count-UP” – a multi-year, nationwide challenge to collectively burn 1 billion calories by 2020. Your participation in an American Heart Association Heart Walk counts toward our goal – sign-up today.
The American Heart Association is the largest voluntary health organization working to prevent, treat and defeat heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. These diseases, the Nation's No.1 and No.4 killers, claim more than 813,804 American lives a year. Thanks to all our walkers, donors and volunteers who have accepted the challenge to help fight heart disease and stroke. We cannot achieve our mission without each one of you!
For more information please contact Deb Landis via phone at (717)207-4266 or via email at lebanon.ahw@heart.org
