Do You Know the Size of a Newborn Baby’s Heart? When you count the reasons to celebrate this season, please add one more to your list. On December 3, Hazell was born in Managua. But quickly, the doctors realized that something was wrong with her heart. Without surgery, Hazell had about 48 hours to live. She was rushed to our Heart Center at La Mascota, where, fortunately a team from Denver was on a training mission for the week.
Dr. James Jaggers, a dedicated member of our board and a renowned surgeon, decided in agreement with the team to operate on this baby right away. The heart of a newborn is the size of a walnut. Because of the complexity of her case, Hazell was the only patient that Dr. Jaggers operated on from the right side of the operating table (as the leading surgeon during this mission). All the other patients were operated on by the Nicaraguan surgeons under Dr. Jaggers mentorship. The operation continued for five hours. Everything went very well. Hazell will be with her family at Christmas! When you donate this holiday season, you support a program that enables babies like Hazell to grow up into happy, active boys and girls. We are fortunate to have a generous Board doubling every gift to the Foundation until December 31, up to $10,000. Click here to make your tax-deductible gift during this season of giving, and the Board will double it to maximize your impact.
This season is about giving and hope, and Surgeons of Hope is committed to both. Thank you for being part of it. Every 30 seconds a baby is born with a life-threatening but highly treatable heart defect. Help us expand access to life-saving heart care around the world.
