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My name is Phillip Zavala and my beautiful other half, who is 8 1/2 months pregnant, is named Jennifer.
On Thursday, December 3, 2015, we went to a prenatal check up excited about the ultrasound where we would learn how much our unborn son, Noah, is now weighing. We left heart broken hearing that our unborn son only has two heart chambers. We were seen the next day by a perinatologist, a doctor specializing in high risk pregnancies. This specialist diagnosed our son as having hypoplastic left heart syndrome. He immediately referred us to a pediatric cardiologist where a fetal echocardiogram was done on our little Noah's heart. We were both in tears as now we had two doctors tell us our unborn son was going to have a tough battle ahead of him as he does in fact have a hypoplastic left heart.
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a rare congenital heart defect where the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. Noah's left ventricle is tiny, his mitral and aortic valves are so small they are closed, and his ascending aorta is very small in diameter. This means when he is born his heart will not be able to deliver oxygenated blood to his organs. There is no cure for his condition, only ways to manage it. Noah is going to need three surgeries. The first one will be within the first 7 days of his life as this is fatal without immediate intervention. We know Noah will be in the ICU immediately after he is born since he will need IV medication to keep his heart pumping. His second required surgery will be when he is about 6 months of age and last when he is 2-3 years old.
There is going to be an extreme amount of medical out of pocket expenses that we are going to incur the first 6 months of his life since he needs two open heart surgeries. Unfortunately, we did not know about his condition sooner and we know we will have to come up with the funds very soon since we are due to have him January 1, 2016 if not sooner.
We are so excited to meet Noah as we have both wondered what he looks like yet we are very scared for him to come as we know the fight he is going to have to endure. We are asking from the bottom of our hearts to help our unborn son as he needs this life saving surgery. Nothing would bless us more than to take our little baby boy home and watch him grow into the boy we have imagined him to be. We thank you in advance and appreciate anything that you can do for us in this life changing time our family has endured. Please keep our family in your prayers as I know God creates miracles.
Thank you and God Bless you and your family,
Phillip, Jennifer, Jacob, Aubrie, Aiden, Baby Noah
On Thursday, December 3, 2015, we went to a prenatal check up excited about the ultrasound where we would learn how much our unborn son, Noah, is now weighing. We left heart broken hearing that our unborn son only has two heart chambers. We were seen the next day by a perinatologist, a doctor specializing in high risk pregnancies. This specialist diagnosed our son as having hypoplastic left heart syndrome. He immediately referred us to a pediatric cardiologist where a fetal echocardiogram was done on our little Noah's heart. We were both in tears as now we had two doctors tell us our unborn son was going to have a tough battle ahead of him as he does in fact have a hypoplastic left heart.
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a rare congenital heart defect where the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. Noah's left ventricle is tiny, his mitral and aortic valves are so small they are closed, and his ascending aorta is very small in diameter. This means when he is born his heart will not be able to deliver oxygenated blood to his organs. There is no cure for his condition, only ways to manage it. Noah is going to need three surgeries. The first one will be within the first 7 days of his life as this is fatal without immediate intervention. We know Noah will be in the ICU immediately after he is born since he will need IV medication to keep his heart pumping. His second required surgery will be when he is about 6 months of age and last when he is 2-3 years old.
There is going to be an extreme amount of medical out of pocket expenses that we are going to incur the first 6 months of his life since he needs two open heart surgeries. Unfortunately, we did not know about his condition sooner and we know we will have to come up with the funds very soon since we are due to have him January 1, 2016 if not sooner.
We are so excited to meet Noah as we have both wondered what he looks like yet we are very scared for him to come as we know the fight he is going to have to endure. We are asking from the bottom of our hearts to help our unborn son as he needs this life saving surgery. Nothing would bless us more than to take our little baby boy home and watch him grow into the boy we have imagined him to be. We thank you in advance and appreciate anything that you can do for us in this life changing time our family has endured. Please keep our family in your prayers as I know God creates miracles.
Thank you and God Bless you and your family,
Phillip, Jennifer, Jacob, Aubrie, Aiden, Baby Noah