Mother put newborn’s health before her own
Faced with a heart tumour, woman delayed surgery so her baby wouldn’t have a premature birth
After a series of tough choices, a Milton couple will ring in the new year together with a new member of the family.
While pregnant, a benign mass was discovered inside Kaelah Russell’s heart that was causing an irregular beat. Doctors advised that her baby should be delivered immediately, so they could operate, Kaelah said. But this would have meant a premature birth by a few weeks.
There were risks at every turn for Kaelah, who also has a 2-year-old son named Kaiden.
“It was like a dark cloud of anxiety,” she said. “(Doctors) told me the risk of having (the tumour) was a heart attack or stroke at any time. You don’t know if it will be tomorrow or in 10 years. The question was when to operate. You can’t have open heart surgery when you’re pregnant.”
Kalaeh didn’t want to have a premature baby. And for five weeks this decision hung over her head. She chose to wait 37 weeks to give birth. Doctors advised her to have her baby at 34.
“That’s a decision I left to her,” said surgeon Dr. Robert Cusimano, who performed the operation at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at the Toronto General Hospital in the fall.
Cusimano said pieces of tumour could have broken off with the beating of her heart — the organ beats 100,000 times per day, he added. If a fragment entered Kaelah’s heart, it could have caused cardiac arrest; and she could have been paralyzed if a piece got into her brain, he said.
“It’s very rare to have a tumour inside your heart,” he said. “It’s even more rare to have a tumour when you’re pregnant.”
Dianne Russell, Kaelah’s mother, called the experience terrifying.
“The whole five weeks it was one minute to the next,” she said.
Kaelah’s husband, Bobby, said the circumstances brought them closer.
“We put our faith and trust in each other,” he said. “No one at the hospital knew exactly what to tell us, so they gave us options and we just kind of sat together at different times and put our minds together and made our decisions off what we both felt in our hearts would be the best.”
But everything worked out — for both mother and daughter. Avery was born on Oct. 27. She is healthy, Kaelah said, a sound sleeper with rosy cheeks.
“I think it’s fair to say most people wanted me to have the baby right away, including the doctors, including my family,” she said. “I went against the grain because I just had a gut feeling that I would be OK. She would be better off having those extra few weeks to cook in my belly.”
Kaelah is doing well herself. Her heart valve was fixed and her health is back to normal, Cusimano said.
She is unable to hold Avery for longer than a minute, after which, pain starts to kick in, she said, one of the side effects of open heart surgery.
“I haven’t been able to hold her and take care of her the way I want to,” Kaleah said. “It’s been quite an interesting journey, mentally,” adding that the length of time required for a full recovery is three to six months.
She has been at her home since Nov. 20. On Dec. 20, Kaelah said she was busy wrapping Christmas gifts with her family.
“We’re both here happy and healthy now,” Kaleah said, glancing over at her daughter, who was swaddled in soft cotton and gently held by Dianne.
“We are so excited for our first Christmas as a healthy family of four.”