The story of this little girl of just 3 weeks, Vanellope Hope Wilkins, has had half a British hospital in the town of Leicester in suspense. The young woman was born with a strange congenital malformation known as “ectopia cordis”, which consists in the complete or partial separation of the sternum, and in the most serious cases can cause the heart to grow outside the breast, thus being exposed.
Seeing that there were possibilities of returning him to his place, 50 doctors have focused their time on curing Vanellope, who after three surgeries is already recovering. The story did not come as a surprise to the parents, Naomi and Dean, who had known since week 16 that their little girl had her heart out of her chest.
After a DNA test they found that the little one did not carry other health problems , so they decided to continue with the pregnancy and, once outside, the uterus to help her survive. Something that has finally happened.
The fear was related, above all, to the risk of infection once Naomi gave birth. Therefore, a cesarean section was scheduled on November 22 and the baby was placed directly on a sterilized plastic so that the exposed heart would not attract any virus or bacteria.
From that moment on, the different operations went on to return the organ to its place, always keeping in mind that the veins and arteries coincided and did not break in the process.
The case of the little one, which doctors have described as a great challenge, is one of the rarest cases that are remembered. In fact, the few who have tried often come with some other associated disease, which in this case has not happened.
Now it is a matter of seeing how it evolves in the coming months and that the heart continues to grow and function without problems.
