Cora Hope Takes on CHD

Truncus Arteriosus-no it’s not a spell from Harry Potter, it’s a rare congenital heart defect that occurs in less than 1 in 10,000 births and only 300 cases a year here in the United States. When we found out that our baby has it, the world seemed to stop spinning. We have never felt so powerless.

The doctor continued to explain what exactly it meant but her voice was muffled as we stared at the ultrasound. An infinite number of questions raced through our minds. Will she be okay? Why did this happen? Was it something we did? What can we do to make it better? Why is this happening to us?

On November 26 2018 at 5:41am, Cora Hope Harrington came into this world a warrior. Within seconds the doctors had taken our precious baby from us to examine her as she was blue as the sky. Minutes felt like hours but eventually, we were able to see our baby girl as they were rolling off to NICU to keep her stable and monitor her heart. There Cora stayed for the week and really thrived as her warrior powers started to shine. She needed very little intervention and interacted with this new world as well as she could.

December 3 2018 at 7:00am, the world stopped spinning as the day we had been dreading was here and we would roll our 1-week-old baby off to have her first open heart surgery. She was in surgery for nearly 7 hours. The surgeon had come out to talk with us and said the surgery went just as planned but the next few days were critical, as Cora would be on a ventilator and by-pass machine to help her. The surgeon talked about more heart surgeries later on in life as the repair they performed would not grow with her and as she grew, they would need to operate again. Cora will need at least two more open-heart surgeries in her life.

It is incredibly difficult to even put into words or express how we are feeling and the rollercoaster that this has been.   We are so thankful for our baby girl and our journey as a family has begun however nothing could prepare us for the physical, mental and the financial burden this has caused us and will continue to cause.  This has put a mountain in front of us that we are looking for help from outside. Our hope is to only worry about the well-being of our daughter and to get her whatever she needs and to give her a life all children should have.

Cora Hope Harrington you are already a fighter and we love you so much!