When Jackie Mortimer, a long-time Cinnaminson resident, was 23 years old, she and her husband had their second daughter. Samantha was born with an undiagnosed heart defect called Congenital Heart Disease. She spent the first two months of her life in a newborn intensive care unit. Throughout the traumatic experience, Mortimer stayed with her daughter every day until Samantha was discharged.
“The day after she was born, she started to have retractions and she wasn’t looking right,” said Mortimer. “My husband looked at the pediatrician and said something is wrong, and the doctor said she was fine and that babies have murmurs sometimes. We started freaking out because they didn’t tell us that she was having murmurs. After that, the pediatrician left, and after a couple hours, we called him back because there was definitely something wrong. It turned out that she was actually dying.”
“They called the NICU specialist and she said that Samantha needed an ultrasound of her heart,” Mortimer continued. “The doctor said that she needed to go to the NICU, have umbilical lines placed and be transferred.”
Samantha was transferred to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children to have surgery and despite just having a C-section, Mortimer left to follow her daughter. Mortimer stayed with Samantha every day for two months.
“Samantha had a cardiac catheterization on a Monday to ballon her aortic valve open,” said Mortimer. “Your aortic valve is supposed to have three leaflets that open and shut as blood moves through it. Samantha was born with two leaflets fused together so no blood was moving through.”
During the procedure, the doctor cut her aortic valve a little too far which resulted in another surgery to fix it. Mortimer later went to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to find a cardiologist.
At 18-months old, Samantha had a Ross-Krono Procedure where the doctor switched two valves in her heart and put a donar-valve in the other place. The procedure has since failed, however, it has taken a lot of pressure off of her original aortic valve.
While Samantha still suffers from some issues such as the lack of ability for her stomach to digest food, she is now 4 years old and is thriving. It is possible that Samantha will need more surgeries down the road, but for the time being the scariness is over.
In honor of children with CHD, Mortimer and her family will participate in the children’s Walk for CHD Research in Philadelphia on May 11 for the first time. According to Mortimer, it’s a great time for parents who are going through similar things to come together and support each other. Supporters can donate at www.walkforchdresearch.org/philadelphia/team/view/95712/team-sammie.
“Samantha just amazes me,” said Mortimer. “No matter what she goes through she just smiles.”
