Baby with rare heart defect survives thanks to surgery done in the womb

22 weeks into her pregnancy, doctors at Children’s hospital Los Angeles discovered that the baby Samantha was carrying had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition wherein the left side of the heart is underdeveloped.

“You can imagine without half of your heart, it’s hard to survive, right?” Grayson’s dad, Marco Davila, told CBS News.

Samantha shared how it felt like everything was stacked up against them. Because, aside from little Grayson’s underdeveloped heart, they also discovered that the hole through which blood would flow from the left to the right side of his fetal heart was starting to inexplicably close up.

So Samantha and Marco decided to do whatever it took just to get their unborn child delivered safely, even if it meant having to undergo a rare and risky procedure.

Fetal cardiac intervention involved inserting a long thin needle ito samantha’s uterus which would then pierce through Grayson’s heart and create a stent which would allow blood to flow normally from the left to the right side of the heart.

The surgery was a success! This allowed his lungs to be stable enough so surgeons could perform much needed open heart surgery after he was born.

The right part of the heart is responsible for pumping blood to the lungs but after the surgery, surgeons were able to convert it to “do the job of both sides” which is to pump blood throughout the entire body.

Due to his delicate condition, his parents only got to hold him a week after he was born. But Samantha says “it was worth the wait”.

Now 3 months old, Grayson is doing well and his new heart is functioning perfectly well.

Though he has two more major procedures ahead of them, his parents are overjoyed that his doctors expect him to grow up a healthy and happy kid.

WATCH: Dad captures amazing moment when his son wakes up with a new heart

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