“Every day Mckenna Jay (MJ) wakes up to fight, we will fight with her.” These inspiring words became the mantra of the Egan family of Portola Valley, California, as little MJ battled a rare congenital heart defect.
At her 21-week ultrasound, Michelle said the ultrasound technician went quiet. Then the doctor came in to explain that their baby girl had a serious congenital heart defect, and it was a wonder that she was still alive. Things heated up quickly from there. The large team of expert heart doctors at the nationally leading Betty Irene Moore Children’s Heart Center at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health hadn’t seen anything like MJ’s particular heart malformations before.
Then, at 38 weeks, MJ’s heart rate slowed for four minutes and she had to be delivered that day. Following a successful C-section, baby MJ was taken to surgery to repair her heart defects. When Dr. Martin opened MJ’s chest, she found a heart that was enlarged on the right side and a shockingly large pulmonary artery that was compressing the rest of her chest, including her airway.
The surgery went well, but MJ required minute-by-minute care for the first 48 hours of her life. “MJ should not have survived that night. She shouldn’t have even survived being born, but because of Stanford Children’s, she is here today, smiling,” Michelle says.
In the beginning, MJ needed 24/7 care in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU), including medications to help her heart squeeze, a tracheostomy to help her airway remain open, and nutrition to support her growing body and brain.
After six months in the CVICU, MJ went home. Today, she is an active, happy toddler, something her parents marvel at every day. “The fact that she’s here is a miracle,” says Dan, MJ’s dad. “…it’s because of the enormous team at Stanford Children’s that did crazy things to give her a chance at a full life.”
Read the full story about MJ’s miraculous battle and how she overcame the odds.
