Sweet Baby Girl Koralai

Kirstin and Eric are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of their little girl

Our Heart

Our heart: A vital organ that pumps around 70 times a minute, pumping 2000 gallons of blood a day, beating over 3 billion times in our lifetime without us consciously knowing. It is a miracle that allows us to live our daily precious lives. It allows us to breath, eat, sleep, laugh, run, think, love, and many more daily activities we take for granted. It is the first organ to develop in an embryo, forming from a tube into its four chambers by 4-6 weeks. At 6 weeks, it should begin to beat. It is a miracle that allows us to live our daily life without worry.

The Anatomy Scan

On Wednesday November 1st, 2023, we found out at our level 2 fetal ultrasound anatomy scan that our baby girl’s heart did not form correctly. She was diagnosed with a few very rare and complex heart defects:

(1) Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) vs. Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV)

TOF is a rare congenital abnormality of the heart, occurring in about 1 in 3000 births. It is characterized by four issues with the heart structure.

• A ventricular septal defect (a hole between the bottom heart chambers causing poor-oxygenated blood and oxygenated-rich blood to mix)

• Overriding aorta (shifting of the body’s main artery supplying the body with oxygenated-rich blood it needs to survive)

• Pulmonary valve stenosis (narrowing of the valve in the pulmonary artery reducing blood flow to the lungs)

• Right ventricle hypertrophy (thickening and weakening of the right lower chamber)

DORV is an even more rare congenital heart defect than TOF, occurring in about 1 in 6-10,000 births. It is characterized by the heart’s two major arteries, the pulmonary artery and aorta, connecting both to the right ventricle. This causes poor-oxygenated blood instead of rich-oxygenated blood to circulate to the rest of the body.

TOF vs. DORV means they are still unsure which defect she has. However, both require similar plan of care and treatments after birth, including extensive medical care and surgeries.

(2) Interrupted Inferior Vena Cava (IVC)

Interrupted inferior vena cava is an even more rare heart condition, where her inferior vena cava is draining into her superior vena cava instead of her right atrium. This could also mean there is a chance that she may have a condition called “heterotaxy”. “Hetero” meaning “different” and “taxy” meaning “arrangement”. Thus, she may possibly not have a spleen or that other varying organs may be in abnormal places. So far, thank God, everything in the rest of her body, looks normal.

In the following weeks as we waited for her next echocardiogram and ultrasound, we prayed and prayed that God would heal her heart. However, we found out more hard, unexpected news in December adding a third diagnosis to her heart.

(3) Partial Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (PAPVR)

PAPVR is another rare congenital heart defect where her atrial septum is deviated, causing her right pulmonary veins to drain abnormally into her right atrium instead of her left atrium. This causes her body to only receive 50% of the oxygenated-rich blood it needs for life.

Our Family’s Future

There are still many unknowns in utero, post-delivery and beyond. However, what we do know is that she will require extensive medical care and surgeries after birth. Before becoming pregnant, Eric and I had already started the building process to build our own home, which includes a large garage for Eric to transition his passion for auto work into a private business. We are currently living in my parent’s basement in order to make this dream come true and have a home for our new and upcoming family. Eric is also fighting to see his 7-year-old daughter. With all of the medical care and surgeries, I am also unsure when I will be able to return to work. If you feel inclined to donate towards her medical expenses and help alleviate some of the financial stress you may do so through this site.

If unable to help financially right now, we ask you to please continue to keep us in your prayers. We continue to pray that God gives a miracle and cures her heart, that he allows her to enter the world healthy, normal, beautiful and crying, and that he guides us and gives us strength during this difficult time.

Our hope is set on the living God, who is the savior of all people, especially those who believe-1 Timothy 4:10