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Our precious baby girl was born August 28th, 1996. The pregnancy was
normal and she was not pre-mature. Although, when she was born,
immediately everyone knew that she had some medical problems that we
had to start trying to figure out.
Right away, she was struggling to breathe and they sent us to
Pitt Memorial in Greenville and she came home on oxygen. They did a
series of exams and soon decided that she needed to be assessed by the
doctors at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC.
Then the journey began.
One diagnosis after another and needles constantly. Hospital
stay after hospital stay. We would come home for a week and back to
UNC for 2 or 3 weeks. Blood transfusions, spinal taps, feeding tubes,
monitors. Over her first 3 years of life, she had over 20 surgeries to
keep her living and breathing. She had a hole in her heart repaired in
May of 1997. She also required oxygen 24/7 the first 3 years of her
life due to Pulmonary Hypertension. In Jan of 1998, Courtney went into
heart failure and we were told she would need a heart transplant to
survive. The doctors tried to prepare us for the worst possible
outcome, but we wouldn't give up on her. She fought and fought through
the worst sickness of her life (Cardiomyopathy). A virus had attacked
her heart and it was very weak, only pumping blood to her major organs
and not her arms and legs. They were cold as ice and blue. She had a
fever of 106 and her heart rate got up to 230 beats per minute. All of
our family was called in and everyone thought that she would not make
it through the night. But over the next few months, she recovered
"remarkably" (according to the doctors). With God's grace
and mercy......she survived.
Over the course of the next few years, she had several surgeries
to correct Hydrocephalous (fluid on her brain). Shunt after shunt
after shunt!!!! It got to be"barbaric" (as J. Scott said to
the docs). Eventually, they took out the shunt and drilled a hole in
her 3rd Ventricle of her brain (3rd Ventriculostomy). That procedure
saved her from having any more shunts. Thank God for that decision.
The Neurosurgeon told us that she was the "perfect
candidate" for that prodedure after telling us months before that
she "probably wasn't" a good candidate. Being an advocate
for Courtney was our number one priority and sometimes we had to just
make things happen.
Courtney also has Hypotonia (low muscle tone) which causes
weakness and growth problems. Low muscle tone is the source of alot of
Courtney's growth and fine/gross motor skills.
As she said in "her story", she is now facing one of
the "BIGGEST" surgeries yet!!!! A Mitral Valve Replacement!!
Her mitral valve is not doing its job and it has caused her left
ventricle and her left atrium to enlarge"severly". This
causes tiredness and weakness. She is such a busy girl and wants to
continue to trudge through whatever comes her way medically so that
she can succeed in life. God has so much in store for her. He has
already used her life to touch so many and change so many lives. His
mercy and grace and healing has brought her so much further than
anyone ever imagined when she was 2 years old. God will see her
through yet another trial so that she can learn from it and use it as
she blossoms into her adult life. She is college bound and wanting to
work with special needs children. She is considering becoming licensed
to teach deaf and hard of hearing children how to communicate through
sign language. We will see if she goes in that direction or not but
right now, she is committed to learning all she can about her options.
Did I mention that she is also hard of hearing and wears hearing aids
daily? Again, God is going to use her and her experiences in a mighty way!!!!
And now Courtney is in need of a Heart Transplant.
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