Heart To Heart With Anna

Send us a textWhat happens when one daughter, in a set of twins, is diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and the other twin is heart-healthy? How can a family handle having one child in the hospital, separated from her twin? What should families tell their children about their medical history? What is the value of sharing family stories? Lisa and Michael Olivares are parents to identical twins Mabel and Maggie, born in 2013. The pregnancy was complicated by Twin-to-Twin transfusion syndrome and Mabel was smaller than Maggie. Two days after they were born, a nurse picked up a heart murmur in Mabel. She was diagnosed with coarctation of the aorta and had surgery at 9 days of age. Just after her first birthday Mabel was diagnosed with subaortic membrane, and had her second surgery shortly before 2 years of age, followed by a third emergency surgery at 4 years of age due to heart and lung symptoms. At the age of 4, she developed heart and kidney failure but has thankfully responded well to medical therapy. Ma