Our beautiful daughter Jessica was born in September 2011 with a severe heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This was diagnosed at her 20 week scan and we were initially told that she was unlikely to be suitable for surgery. However, a pioneering in-utero operation at 28 weeks to enlarge a hole in her atrial septum was carried out and she was able to make it to term and get through her first open-heart surgery at just eight hours old. Jessica underwent five more surgeries during her life. Her final surgery - the Fontan procedure - took place in December 2017. She initially made a good recovery but sadly passed away suddenly on 14th April 2018 at the age of 6. This is the story of a little girl whose half a heart overflowed with love. She was, and will forever be, our little miracle and brought joy to all who knew her.

Friday 25 November 2011

11 weeks - Anticipating another step

It has been a fairly busy week for Jessica with visits from both the community nurse and health visitor and another check-up at Oxford. Thankfully she is continuing to do well, with her oxygen saturation levels remaining fairly stable and her weight is now up to 3690g (8lb 3oz). She has also been meeting a few more of our friends this week, having now met Matt, Jeanine, Phil and Kath and also went along to a beading workshop at our church (needless to say, Louise didn’t get a lot of beading done but it was nice to be sociable!)

We have now been given a date of 14th December for Jessica’s next operation and the plan is that this will be a combination of the second part of the Norwood procedure and the Glenn procedure. This will involve major open-heart surgery and we will be going back into Southampton General Hospital on 13th December to prepare for this. If all goes well, it is likely that we will be in hospital for at least two weeks.

Understandably we are quite anxious about this next step as this will be the biggest step in our journey so far. Jessica has been a little fighter and we pray that she will continue to be so. Please can you continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we approach this next stage and pray that our little girl will continue to do well. We will of course keep you updated over the coming weeks.

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2 comments:

  1. Jeanine Ringer26 November 2011 at 00:31

    Matthew and I were so happy that we got to see Jessica before I flew back to LA. Jessica is such a beautiful wee one and Louise looked absolutely lovely as a glowing mum.
    Our thoughts and hopes are always with all three of you as you continue on your journey.

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  2. Anonymous26 November 2011 at 09:10

    Wow she's getting so big now! What a cutie and I love the last picture of her - what a happy little girl. Love Geri & Matt xx

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