By Kelly Wooley

1980年，帕蒂·威尔逊（Patti Wilson）怀有女儿梅兰妮（Melanie）时，医疗保健和技术看起来与今天有很大不同。

Routine sonograms did not exist and there was no way for expectant mothers to know whether anything was wrong with their baby until the child was born. Up until labor, Patti’s pregnancy had been text book and no one had any reason to suspect anything was wrong with Melanie.

但是，在1980年6月3日，当帕蒂（Patti）开始劳动时，一切都改变了。

每次帕蒂都有收缩时，医生开始注意到梅兰妮的心会停止。他们最初以为脐带包裹在梅兰妮的脖子上，但是在进行紧急剖腹产后，帕蒂和她的丈夫得知他们的刚出生的女婴正面临危及生命的诊断。manbetx万博全站app下载

梅兰妮出生的第二天；她被转移到烹饪儿童教堂，当时被称为沃思堡儿童。梅兰妮（Melanie）的父母收到的预后黯淡。

梅兰妮（Melanie）在5天大时就进行了第一次心脏导管插入术。第一个程序使医生能够诊断出梅兰妮的先天性心脏缺陷，其中包括大动脉的转座，心室间隔缺陷和肺动脉狭窄。她将需要多种程序来解决心脏中的结构异常，但导管插入术会暂时解决该问题，以尽可能长时间推迟手术。

Melanie was a year old when she had her first open heart surgery at Cook Children’s. The procedure was called the Rastelli procedure and the surgeon performing the surgery had practiced under Giancarlo Rastelli himself before coming to Cook Children’s. Throughout her life, Melanie had additional surgeries at 3, 10, 16 and 27 years old. She also underwent multiple heart catheterizations and procedures.

多年来，库克儿童已经成为外之家，库克儿童心脏病学家理查德·雷丁（Richard Reading），医学博士，自8岁起就跟随梅兰妮（Melanie），感觉更像是一名家庭成员。

当被问及她的诊断如何影响她小时候的生活时，梅兰妮说这就是她所知道的。她了解了自己的诊断，因为随着时间的流逝，经历了大多数东西。在11岁时，另一位厨师儿童心脏病专家詹姆斯“ Hud” Allender，医学博士，她坐下来解释说，如果有紧急情况，她的妈妈可能并不总是与她同在，她必须知道并理解自己的诊断。正是在这一点上，梅兰妮（Melanie）真正了解了她在此之前一直在应付的一切。

自27岁时的最后一次手术以来，梅兰妮（Melanie）没有并发症。即使她是成年人，她仍在库克儿童的心脏病专家继续进行心脏病专家，他们擅长治疗先天性心脏缺陷的所有年龄段的患者。随着儿科心脏病学的持续发展，先天性心脏缺陷的儿童不仅可以生存，而且还成长为成年人，过着富裕，充实的生活。库克儿童的成人先天性心脏病计划是全国仅有的少数正式计划之一，从成年后出生的那一刻起，为患者提供住院和门诊护理。

But the story doesn’t end there.

Due to Melanie’s diagnosis, she was told that pregnancy would likely be too risky. Her doctors were unsure if her heart would be strong enough to carry a baby to term.

But, some things are left to fate and Melanie began to have vivid dreams that she was feeding twin girls that she knew had to be her own. She would wake up absolutely bewildered because she knew it wasn’t a possibility. Fast forward a few weeks and Melanie and her husband found out the shocking news that she was pregnant.

梅兰妮（Melanie）立即与雷丁（Reading）博士预约，在那里他进行了心电图，超声心动图和考试，并说：“这是最奇怪的事情。您的心似乎是有史以来最好的形状。如果您要生一个孩子，那么现在是时候了。”超声图显示，正如她的梦想所暗示的那样，梅兰妮实际上怀有双胞胎。不幸的是，一个婴儿的心脏从未完全形成，在8周时，另一个超声图显示婴儿已经被吸收了。

Having wanted to create a girl name from two men’s names, Melanie and her husband already had a plan when they found out 15 weeks into the pregnancy that they would have a baby girl. Rossleigh is named after her great grandfather, Ross, and her grandfather, David Lee.

Melanie’s pregnancy went smoothly physically, but it was incredibly draining emotionally. At the beginning, Melanie and her husband felt as if they were only receiving disheartening news. At week 18, the couple was informed that there was an issue with Rossleigh’s heart and the perinatologist could only see one kidney. Luckily, her second kidney would be detected on a later sonogram.

在第22周，在库克儿童教堂（Cook Children's）进行了胎儿回声，心脏病专家可以在梅兰妮（Melanie）内部诊断罗斯利（Rossleigh）的心脏缺陷。梅兰妮（Melanie）出生时，胎儿超声心动图并不存在。胎儿的回声使医生在子宫中仍能看到婴儿的心脏。医生可以做出诊断，并与外科团队合作，甚至在出生前就制定了治疗计划。这项技术为手术团队和家庭提供了时间的礼物。

当进行胎儿回声时，Rossleigh最初被诊断为具有心室间隔缺陷的动脉truncus动脉，但出生时，这种诊断会改变。

罗斯利·克莱尔·杜威（Rossleigh Claire Dewey）于2012年9月26日出生，立即被转移到库克儿童的新生儿重症监护室。超声心动图将表明她的诊断实际上是对法洛和肺闭锁的四边形。出生后仅五天，医学博士的文森特·坦（Vincent Tam）是库克儿童医疗手术医学总监，他的心脏是Rossleigh的心脏。具有讽刺意味的是，她在梅兰妮（Melanie）最近的手术后留在了完全相同的手术恢复室中，在医院住了29天，此后一直没有进行程序。她可能最终需要在十几岁的时候需要另一个程序，但是现在，她像其他5岁的孩子一样过着生活。

The bond between a mother and daughter is always special and unique, but Melanie and Rossleigh’s bond is even more unique because of their shared experiences.

These days, because both Melanie and Rossleigh are still being followed by Dr. Readinger, they have annual mother-daughter cardiology appointments. Melanie said that while one is getting their echo, the other will hang out in the waiting room and vice versa. A unique mother-daughter experience that most don’t have to share but they make the best out of a tough situation.

The Dewey family is forever grateful to Dr. Readinger and the care and compassion that he has shown both Melanie and Rossleigh throughout their medical journey. Melanie bragged on his ability to appropriately explain and literally sketch out the most complicated situations to both generations of heart patients.

Even though nearing retirement age, Dr. Readinger wanted to be the one to treat Rossleigh so that he could be involved in both of their care. He has made a great impact on their lives and the family is forever thankful.

当梅兰妮（Melanie）反映了她经历的一切时，她解释说：“我对这种情况有一个独特的观点。我一直在双方，作为一个害怕接受心脏手术的病人，以及一个心脏病的孩子的妈妈。两者都以自己的方式令人恐惧，但由于我的信仰和一支出色的护士熟练医生团队，我能够勇于克服这些情况。”

As we look back over Cook Children’s 100 year history, Melanie’s story is proof of not only how many medical advancements have been made but how things are literally changing each and every day. If Melanie was born 10 years earlier, the Rastelli procedure wouldn’t have existed and she would have died as an infant. However, if she was born 10 years later, she would have been able to undergo a newer procedure, at the time, called the Nikaidoh procedure where they could easily switch the two sides of the heart. It’s likely she would have needed just the one surgery rather than five. Plus, she would have had the added benefit of the experience of Dr. Tam and Hisashi Nikaidoh, M.D, who created the procedure, and have the largest combined experience of aortic translocations in North America.

These advancements are even more apparent with Rossleigh’s journey thus far.

所有这些医学进步均不在库克儿童的家园中被视为理所当然，我们知道没有您的帮助，我们无法取得这些进步。我们慷慨的捐助者和支持社区使我们能够帮助梅兰妮和罗斯利的生活充实，尽管他们的并发症很复杂。当您参加我们的100周年庆祝活动时，请记住我们真正在庆祝谁 - 梅兰妮（Melanie）和罗斯利（Rossleigh）等患者，也是您。感谢您成为我们100中的1人。