Monday, March 16, 2009

In-utero surgery saves Michigan baby

The front page of the March 15, 2009, edition of the Grand Rapids Press featured a story on tiny yet history-making Mira Larrison. Mira Larrison is an infant whose heart was operated on while she was still in the womb.
With Mira still in her mother's womb and weighing about 2 1/2 pounds, her heart not much larger than a grape, Armstrong and other doctors at U-M's Mott Children's Hospital operated, opening a hole between the left and right sides of her heart.

When Mira went home a few weeks ago, she became a medical pioneer -- the first infant to undergo such a delicate prenatal operation in Michigan and survive long enough to leave the hospital.
Mira needs a couple more surgeries to repair her heart but if she makes it through those surgeries doctors believe she will have an “excellent prognosis.”

When Mira’s parents were told of the various problems with Mira, they were “offered three options: have an abortion, allow the baby to be born and die or undergo in-utero surgery.”

We’re glad they choose life for Mira.