2-Year-Old Girl With Rare Heart Condition May Not Survive the Month, Doctors Will Not Operate
It may not be possible for LeAnna Brown, a two-year-old girl from Slidell, La. to survive this whole month if she does not get a new heart. In an article 4WWL posted on its site, it indicated that the girl's parents wanted to share their child's story, hoping to find someone who can help them.
The girl's parents also said they were sharing her story to raise consciousness about her extraordinary medical condition.
LeAnna, who's turning three this month, has been spending more time at a hospital than any other place a young girl like her should be in.
Now her parents are left clueless and unsure if she's ever going to see her third birthday. According to her mom, Ashley Mitchell, LeAnna's fighting.
Each time she gets ill, the worried mother continued, "Even if it is a small virus, it is always worse for her." Therefore, this last time the girl got ill, the sickness "just pushed her over the edge."
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A Rare Condition
On LeAnna's first month, she was diagnosed with a unique "metabolic disorder" that causes heart failure.
This rare condition is also known as the "Multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenation deficiency" or MADD. According to Mitchell, her daughter's body is unable to break down proteins and fats, and thus, they get stuck in other parts like the heart.
According to orpha.net, "MADD is a disorder of fatty acid and amino acid oxidation." It is also a clinically assorted disorder that ranges from a severe "neonatal presentation with metabolic acidosis and liver disease, among others," to a mild childhood or adult illness with sporadic metabolic decompensation, weakness of the muscles and respiratory failure.
Because of LeAnna's condition, Mitchell explained, the problem they're "running into" at present is searching for the hospital "that will be willing to at least try" since there is no adequate information about her daughter's condition.
She added that nobody has ever gone through a transplant with her daughter's condition. Mitchell and LeAnna's father, Jason Brown, both believe that a heart transplant could be a lifesaver for their child.
However, they explained, because of inadequate studies on the said case, "They have turned down." What their daughter needs, the couple said, has been turned down, specifically by three hospitals now.
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Their Search Continues
LeAnna's parents said they are trying to search for someone, even if he's not a transplant specialist or expert that can "reduce the heart's size," and eliminate the trauma, there's not just adequate study at all, the apprehensive mother said.
Now, the girl's family is told by the doctors that LeAnna's heart may no longer last for two more weeks. Basically, Mitchell shared, doctors have said to them that if no other hospital would pick their daughter up, they would just make her feel comfortable.
Tearfully, LeAnna's mother said, they can just bring her sisters so they'd finally be able to see her. Presently, the Mitchelle noted, they are continuously waiting, praying, and sharing their story.
They're hoping that through these gestures, they'd be given a chance to see their beloved daughter reach her birthday. LeAnna's father said he's been with his daughter since birth, and he never misses anything.
The only thing he asks, he continued, is to give his little girl "a fighting chance." The ICU nurse of LeAnna created an account in Go Fund Me to raise awareness of her condition and financial support for her family.
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