The story of Aurora

Aurora was born with hip dysplasia. When she was 10 months old she had corrective surgery and at that time they noticed something on the heart monitor. They noticed she has a heart rhythm condition called long QT. Prior to this we had no knowledge of a heart condition. After we learned of Aurora’s very serious condition we were able to obtain an external defibrillator from another family that didn’t need it anymore. Shortly after Aurora turned 2 she had a cold and this cold put enough strain on her body that she started to go into cardiac arrest in the middle of the night. I called 911 and went to grab the defibrillator and Justin started CPR. I followed the directions of the defibrillator and used it to restore her rhythm. She was taken the the hospital and 2 days later had a defibrillator implanted in her tiny body. The next year and a half was uneventful until she had her second arrhythmia. Her internal device worked properly and quickly restored her rhythm. We took her to the hospital to be checked out and at that time they notice one of the leads was pulling taut and they were concerned it might break. They did a lead revision but must have introduced an infection because the incision never healed. In December 2020, well into my third trimester with our second daughter we took Aurora to Philadelphia where they removed her defibrillator. They had her on antibiotics for a long time before implanting a new device. The incision for the new device never healed either and eventually also had to be removed. It’s now been 2 years without internal protection. We carry our external defibrillator with us everywhere we go and are never late with meds. Now we’ll be adding a companion dog to the family to help us all continue to heal and manage anxiety. We pray that Aurora stays healthy and out of the hospital.