Our patients’ stories: saving “princess” Emily

By Paul Schuster Emily Our daughter Emily’s heart defect wasn’t discovered until she was nearly 3 years old. In hindsight, we now know that her numerous illnesses and bouts of pneumonia were a sign that something wasn’t right, but until her diagnosis, we never suspected anything serious. She always had plenty of liveliness and certainly kept us busy with her antics—dancing or singing or getting Daddy to play princess with her… again. By all counts, she was just our happy, energetic little girl. Then, during a routine doctor’s visit, a nurse said she heard a murmur in Emily’s heartbeat. We didn’t think too much of it at the time, my wife Carol has a heart murmur, so a second murmur in the family didn’t cause too much worry. However, after the echocardiogram that provided clear images of her heart, we began to understand the gravity of our situation: Emily had a hole in her heart. We learned that Emily was born with a condition known as atrial septal defect (ASD). No parent wishes to hear the news that their daughter has a heart condition, but David Fulton, MD, our pediatric cardiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, assured us that ASD was treatable, and as heart defects go, a condition that pediatric cardiologists and surgeons see frequently. In many cases, the hole can be closed through a catheter-delivered device, which is a minimally invasive alternative to closing the hole during surgery. However, the hole in Emily’s heart was about...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: All posts Heart conditions Our patients’ stories ASD atrial septal defects Christopher Baird David Fulton Heart Center Jenna Murray our patients' stories Source Type: news