Isla Brown has spent all but 5 days of her life at Norton’s Children’s Hospital due to a severe heart defect.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This little girl’s birthday present came a bit early.
Isla Brown has spent all but 5 days of her life at Norton’s Children’s Hospital due to a severe heart defect.
Heath officials said after Isla was born, doctors found out that she had hypoplastic right heart syndrome. This is a congenital heart defect where the right side of the heart is underdeveloped.
In severe cases, the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs leading to heart failure.
Officials said Isla also has a condition called CHARGE syndrome, a very rare disorder that arises during early fetal development and affects multiple organ systems.
Norton doctors said after they determined other measures wouldn’t reverse her heart condition, she was put on the heart transplant list last August.
She received a new heart on Jan. 13 and finally went home Thursday — just in time to celebrate her first birthday on March 1.
“We’re super excited. I just can’t wait to take her outside, breathe fresh air and let her be a baby,” Isla’s mother Hailey Brown said. “Even though she’s a baby in [the hospital], we just can’t wait to let her not be bothered. We are so happy and excited about that.”
The doctors said they’ve gotten so used to seeing her every day and they will miss her, but they are so excited to see her go home.
