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Thursday, January 04, 2007
Ind. Law - Two Indianapolis attorneys' new baby is a tiny miracle
"Rare surgery renders a tiny miracle: Riley surgeons remove life-threatening tumor from infant's heart a day after her birth" is the headline to a story with a thankfully happy ending today in the Indianapolis Star. Some quotes from the story by Barb Berggoetz:
Swaddled in a red and white blanket, Ann Therese Felts slept soundly at Riley Hospital for Children on Tuesday, unaware a rare, life-threatening tumor removed from her heart will afford her a place in medical journals.Her parents, Paje and Chris Felts, have endured more since the tumor was discovered in October than many parents experience in a lifetime, culminating with surgery Friday to remove the racquetball-size tumor the day after her birth.
"I think she's an absolute miracle," Paje Felts said Tuesday, admiring the 6-pound baby, who's on a ventilator. She's only been able to hold her child once, right before the surgery.
Cardio-thoracic surgeon John Brown said the tumor was 11/2 to two times the size of the baby's heart -- which is about as big as a plump strawberry. Only 46 other similar cases, called cardiac teratoma tumors, have been recorded in medical history, said Brown, who led the operating team. * * *
Initial tests showed the tumor to be benign, and any microscopic tumor cells left generally won't grow, said Brown, chief of cardiac surgery at Clarian Health Partners and Indiana University School of Medicine. "Her future should be very positive." * * *
Calling the ordeal a "gigantic episode" in their lives, Chris Felts, an attorney for Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis, said they were very confident with the care we were getting at Riley.
They also felt buoyed by the support of friends and their Catholic faith. "I don't know how anyone can do it without faith," said Paje Felts, an attorney and lobbyist for the Indiana State Bar Association.
The Feltses, who have 5-year-old twins and a 2-year-old daughter, named the baby after St. Theodore Guerin, whose given name was Anne-Therese.
Paje Felts, who graduated from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College near Terre Haute, which was founded by St. Theodore, said the sisters prayed hard for her daughter. "I think she's one of Mother Theodore Guerin's miracles."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 4, 2007 12:02 PM
Posted to Indiana Law