A baby with a serious heart condition who became the center of a multistate legal dispute involving his surrogate underwent surgery, according to NBC News and The Tribune, ABC News. The surrogate, McKenna West, gave birth to Rumi in Texas on Aug. 12, after traveling from her home state of Alaska to safely deliver the child.
Baby Rumi is in surgery for his HLHS.
Rumi was diagnosed in utero with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is underdeveloped. On Aug. 17, Rumi underwent a Norwood procedure, “a complex palliative heart surgery,” Lee Budner, the attorney representing Rumi’s biological parents, Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar, said in a statement, according to NBC News.
“Rumi is now recuperating under the loving care of his parents and his heroic team of doctors, nurses, and medical staff,” Budner said in a statement.
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The Norwood procedure is the first of three surgeries generally required during the first several years of life for babies with HLHS, Budner said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the procedure is typically performed within the first two weeks of a baby’s life. During the surgery, doctors create a “new” aorta and connect it to the right ventricle. They also place a tube connecting either the aorta or the right ventricle to the pulmonary arteries, allowing the right ventricle to pump blood to both the lungs and the rest of the body.
The surgeries do not cure HLHS but are intended to improve blood flow and restore heart function.
“This is the last update on Rumi’s health that his family intends to share,” Budner said. “His…
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