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.

Sunday, 6 September 2015

Happy 4th birthday, Jessica!

It is amazing to think that this time four years ago, Jessica was having her first open heart surgery and today our little miracle has celebrated her 4th birthday. She has been counting down the number of sleeps for the last few days and was very excited first thing this morning when she saw her birthday card read out on CBeebies.  We had a party this afternoon with some of Jessica’s friends and family and she had a wonderful time enjoying the sunshine in Grandma’s garden and opening lots of cards and presents!


Tomorrow morning, Jessica will be starting back at preschool again, and will be going for three mornings a week.  We have enjoyed the last few weeks of the summer holidays – spending a few days staying with Auntie Fizz and cousins Ebony and Erin, blackberry picking in Grandma’s garden, picnics in the garden, treading grapes to help Grandma make wine and having fun doing crafts at home during the rainy days.  We have been focusing on potty training over the last few weeks and have been so proud of how well Jessica has done with this.  



Jessica has enjoyed being able to go back to her “favourite Legoland ever!” now that our preschool passes are valid again.  It is so lovely to watch her and Sophie wandering about hand in hand as they explore the park and to see how close they are.  Bedtime is particularly beautiful as Jessica always has to give Sophie a big cuddle and kiss and say “I love you Sophie” before she goes to sleep.  Sophie’s response of “luz you Jess-sha” is adorable too!



We had a visit from the community nurse last week and Jessica’s sats were back up to 83% which is really good.  The results of the chest X-ray have come back and all was fine with that so last month’s dip was hopefully just a little blip.  We are still waiting to hear when Jessica’s next cardiac check-up will be as this month’s appointment was cancelled.  



It is amazing to see how well Jessica is doing and to see how far she has come.  This past year has been the first one without any hospital admissions and it has been amazing to just enjoy a normal, happy family life.  A huge thank you to everyone who supports us on this journey – the wonderful team on Ocean Ward and PICU whose skills got Jessica through all her surgeries and the recovery period afterwards, and all our friends and family whose love, support and prayers have helped get us this far.  We feel incredibly blessed to be here today, watching Jessica celebrate her 4th birthday and enjoying every minute of it.


Little Hearts Big Love
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1 comment:

  1. Heart Mammi22 September 2015 at 07:54

    We hope you had a lovely Birthday Jessica. Isn't your Mummy great for sending your Birthday card to Cbeebies - you know, that's something I've never even thought of doing for any of mine!

    I'm glad her sat's were back up this month too, I think so many things can affect the results though - like the temperature of their skin or if they move a little. A nurse asked me last week if Martha normally sits at 84 and I freaked out, she is always 97%-100%...and a few moments later she did it again and she was saturating at 100%.

    Hopefully you'll get another appointment through soon.

    xxx

    #heart2heart

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