Emma Grace Turner 2/4/10 - 7/11/11
EMMA GRACE: She got the name Grace Because she lived in the womb when they said she may not,
she survived birth even when they said there may not be a chance, then she came home all by God's
grace. Little did we know that her grace from God was only beginning. God had some very important
work for Emma to do. She taught her family a love like no other and was tough and fought through and endured so many struggles in this world. See Emma was born with a very rare genetic disorder that had never been seen before, she had a congenital heart defect requiring open heart surgery and she could not hear or barely see without the help of her glasses. We knew about her heart before she was born but had no idea until after birth of all the other struggles she would have to endure when she entered this world
on February 4th, 2010. She touched and blessed so many people that only an angel on earth with the
grace of God could do such special work. Emma had open heart surgery on May 3rd, 2011 and spent 56
days in the PICU at Kentucky Children's Hospital, she had complications from her surgery that she would never over come. On June 27th, 2011 she was brought home to enjoy time with her family with the
help of hospice. She got to enjoy and be enjoyed by her family at home for another two weeks before
God called her home on July 11th, 2011. Now Emma Grace is an angel in heaven, her work here is done. Emma Grace was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, which consisted of a combination of 4 different heart defects. It was found in utero. It affects the structure of the heart and causes poor oxygen blood flow out of the heart to the rest of the body, this is what they call blue babies. She always had a bluish color and her lips at times would be purple from the lack of oxygen. The four defects that are caused from TOF are; Pulmonary valve stenosis- a narrowing of the main blood vessel leading to the lungs. The next one she had was Ventricular Septal defect- this is a hole in the wall separating the two lower chambers of the heart. Then there's the overriding aorta- this is the main artery leading out to the body, branches off the left ventricle, in TOF the aorta is shifted to the right and lies directly above the VSD (hole in between the two chambers). The last is Right Ventricular hypertrophy - when the heart's pumping action is overworked since the vessel and aorta are too small to correctly carry the oxygen she needed her heart had to work extra to push enough through, it causes the muscular wall of the right ventricle to enlarge and thicken. Over time this causes the heart to stiffen, become weak and eventually fail. She finally subcomb to heart failure due the heart never relaxing from the right ventrical even after her repair. She suffered for 68 days after surgery, this particular complication led to other complications that made her absolutely miserable and I'm sure the pain overwhelming because it was 6 weeks after her surgery before I got to hold her again for the first time.
I just want to bring some awareness to CHD's in the hopes that one day with help and research these statistics will decrease over time. One thing we can do is keep her memory alive and her amazing work she did in her short time here and pray that one day with funding and research the statistics will improve and other parents won't have to watch their innocent child suffer in such a way. I thank God every day for my blessings even through this trial and am thankful for the short time we got to share with her because that little angel taught me so much! I pray for all the other families affected by all these CHD's and hope one day they will no longer have to suffer!
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