Our Stories
Healthier Children. A Better World.™
Our Kids - Meet Brianna
Brianna was born  with truncous arteriosus, an extremely rare heart disease which children had very little hope to survive 15 years ago.
Brianna, Ventricular Septal Defect
Brianna was missing the pulmonary artery of the upper right chamber which permits the exit of blood to flow into the lungs for oxygenation. Brianna also had a congenital heart disease called ventricular septal defect (VSD), a massive opening between the two lower chambers of the heart. Brianna will require multiple open heart surgeries throughout her life.
Two days after her birth, Brianna was diagnosed with this rare condition by SickKids cardiologist Dr. Norman Musewe. Dr. Musewe explained to Brianna's parents John and Daniela that the best treatment strategy for Brianna, although risky, would be open heart surgery. Three weeks later, Dr. Glen Van Arsdell, Head, Division of Cardiovascular Surgery performed the eight-hour operation to repair Brianna's heart. During her two-week recovery, the surgeon and the nursing staff encouraged the family to rest and were a constant source of comfort and reassurance for her parents.
In 2003, Brianna had an angioplasty to increase the blood flow from the heart and to postpone additional heart surgery for as long as possible. Brianna is now an active child, but she will need regular follow-up procedures including angioplasties and/or open heart surgeries to enable her heart to adequately respond to her growing body.
One in 100 children are born with a heart defect, and nearly half will need surgery to survive. SickKids Heart Centre is one of the largest and most successful cardiac programs in the world, performing approximately 600 operations, 1,000 minimally invasive procedures in the cardiac catheterization lab, 8,000 ambulatory visits to the cardiac clinic and more than 10,000 diagnostic echocardiograms each year.
We perform one-third of all children's heart surgeries in Canada - a percentage that continues to grow.
John and Daniela feel truly blessed with two beautiful daughters, Brianna and her sister Marissa, but they also count SickKids among their blessings.
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