Meet Abigail, our 2024 Champion!
Written by Abigail’s parents
Our lives completely changed the day we were told Abigail had a congenital heart defect. During a prenatal anatomy scan, doctors saw that Abigail’s heart was not developing correctly… and that is the day our Heart Family journey officially started.
Once Abigail was born via cesarean delivery at Sacred Heart, she immediately went to the NICU. At 4 days old, she had a heart catheter procedure to try and correct the heart defect; at that point, it was a waiting game to see if the procedure “worked” or not. Unfortunately, she needed a more aggressive intervention so when she was just 18 days old, Abigail underwent open-heart surgery. After surgery, Abigail was transferred to the PICU to recover and that was when she started getting stronger! She had a heart that was finally doing what it needed to do… it just took a little extra work to get there. When Abigail was 27 days old, we were able to finally take her home for the first time and snuggle her without tubes, wires, and monitors in the way!
Since her surgery, Abigail has had one additional heart procedure and PICU stay and she has been doing really well. She continues to have check-ups with her cardiologist and as she grows, more procedures or surgeries will occur. It is all just a waiting game to see how her heart continues to develop.
The experiences we have had with Abigail’s care teams in the NICU, PICU, and cardiology office have been incredible. From the nursing staff to Abigail’s heart surgeon and everyone in between, we have felt a huge amount of support and our family feels fortunate to have access to these resources. Although being a Heart Family is something we never anticipated having to experience, having such a wonderful care team has made a positive difference in the journey.
Every year on February 18th, we celebrate Abigail’s Heartiversary! That day of celebration is a way for us to reflect on what Abigail has overcome and how much our family has grown. Abigail continues to amaze us. She is smart, silly, sweet, and strong. She is our WARRIOR. We take each day as it comes and remind ourselves how lucky we are. The biggest thing that gives us hope for Abigail’s future comes from the simplicity of watching Abigail grow, smile, learn, laugh, and live her best life every single day.
Has this journey been beautiful, raw, real, stressful, and joyful? Definitely. Would we do this all over again and again and again for our girl? IN A HEARTBEAT!
Thank you to the Kelly family for sharing Abigail with us!
