Help Ariella Thrive with Heart Surgery Support

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to read about Ariella’s heart journey.

Earlier this year during a prenatal ultrasound, doctors discovered that Ariella heart was not fully developed, she was found to have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. HLHS is a rare congenital heart defect that causes the left ventricle (or lower left chamber) of the heart to be severely underdeveloped and unable to circulate oxygenated blood properly to the body (meaning she basically has half a working heart.) This diagnosis of HLHS has been meant for a variety of additional prenatal scans, echocardiograms, visits with fetal cardiologists, pediatric cardiologists, maternal-fetal medicine specialists and more that has not been covered by insurance. Additionally, Ariella will need a series of 3 open heart surgeries to try and reach optimal function of her heart. The Norwood at 1week old, following with the Glenn at 3/4 months and the Fontan surgery at 3/4 years old.

After receiving all this news the city we live in cannot perform any of these surgeries because of the severity and high risk of her conditions with HLHS, after being in talks with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital they said I would need to relocate to Cincinnati Oh by 35 weeks gestation, this has left me to leave behind my other two boys with family and completely change my life around. I got life flighted to Cincinnati on August 14th due to an increased fetal medical needs.

Ariella will be in the hospital for recovery until the second surgery called the Glenn procedure, when Ariella is 3-4 months old with a month recovery in the CICU, She will also need to see a cardiologist and be on medications the rest of her life to make sure her heart stays strong and healthy. After these surgeries, we would get to return home when Ariella is about 5 months old. We then will have to go back to Cincinnati for her third surgery called the Fontan procedure, when she is around 3-4 years old. After all these surgeries, this would not be a permanent fix to her heart only temporary. Eventually Ariella will need a heart transplant.

All of these unexpected complications have caused financial struggle for us. Although we are working hard to put this situation in God’s hands, no part of this has been easy. We have many travel costs ahead of us, along with food expenses, housing expenses, transportation expenses, and an overwhelming amount of medical expenses. That will be put towards all donations.

Despite receiving this sad news, we are not giving up on our baby girl. As we know she is so strong and we are going to do everything we can for her. We believe prayer is the biggest blessing anyone could give us. We are needing/asking for many prayers that God will give her a new heart/repair her heart and that we have the strength and peace to get through this, and that Ariella will survive this journey and have the biggest testimony.

We want to thank everyone for the out pouring amounts of support, love, generosity & prayers to get us through this Journey for Ariella! Please pass this along as any little bit counts!