GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Congenital heart disease doesn't discriminate. That's what one Hamilton family found out even before their daughter, Wrenley Harris, was born. They're using February, American Heart Month, to educate the public.
Even at just 1 year old, Wrenley has a big personality.
"She's a spitfire. She is a sassy little lady. She actually had a little bit of red in her hair when she was born. Just sassy, spunky. She calls the shots," said Wrenley's mom, Katelyn Harris, at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital Wednesday.
Harris and her family learned about Wrenley's congenital heart defect from the team at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital before she was even born.
"Thanks to what's called fetal echocardiograms, where we take a look at the heart before babies are born, we actually knew and could prepare not just our team but also run these family to make sure that they had all the information, understood what was going to happen and what to expect," said pediatric cardiologist Dr. Heather Sowinski. In Wrenley's case, the left side of the heart didn't develop as it should, so it's very small, and so then Wrenley only has one pump available to pump blood to her lungs."
About one in 100 babies are born with a heart abnormality, but Sowinski said Wrenley's is a rarer type of heart defect. That meant her health journey began as soon as she was born.
"At 37 and five days, I had her, and then five days — well, actually that day — she had her first emergent cath procedure. And then five days later, she had her first open-heart [surgery]," Harris said.
Wrenley's already undergone two open-heart surgeries but you wouldn't know it by looking at her.
"I think that's what we love is we went from a stage where we didn't know if she was going to make it, to you walk in the grocery store and people have no idea what she's been through," added Harris.
Harris said, however, that the journey hasn't been without its challenges.
"We're definitely in a much better place, but we definitely went through some periods of just extreme stranger danger and anxiety and was fearful of all people, especially if you wore blue," Harris said.
It was thanks to those men and women in blue that Wrenley can live the life she deserves.
"Wrenley is still determined to run, jump, climb, play, do all the things that any other kid would do, and if anything, that kind of fearlessness of being a kid is helpful because she has no expectation that she can't," said Sowinski.
"This little baby whose life was literally cycling through a machine, and we didn't know what the outcome was going to be, to a walking, talking, sassy little girl. Now, it's just amazing, but then also just to make other people who are going through it, know that they're not alone," Harris said. "I often say, 'Superheroes don't wear capes. They wear scrubs.'"
Wrenley will have one more open-heart surgery when she turns 3 or 4.
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