SURVIVOR: Miracle baby survives two cardiac arrests and several surgeries before 6 MONTHS OLD.

"It all happened so quickly. We were living everyday fearing the unknown," expressed Katie, the mother of newborn twins, Phoebe and Joe, with tears in her eyes.

Phoebe Finch is a survivor.

Highlights

By Abigail James (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
8/15/2019 (5 years ago)

Published in Marriage & Family

Keywords: Phoebe Finch, Miracle, Miracle Baby, Baby

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A mother's worst nightmare came true for Katie Finch in February 2018, when her twins were delivered premature at 32-weeks. After a 51-hour labor, Joe and Phoebe entered the world to be placed on premature baby units, according to Chronicle Live.

Joe weighed 4lbs 1oz, and Phoebe was just 2lbs 19oz.

"Even from the start after giving birth to Phoebe and Joe early, they were so tiny and both on ventilation, we weren't sure if they were going to survive," explained Katie. "We were told that Phoebe had only 8 percent chance of pulling through her surgery and that the next 72-hours were crucial. It was down to her to fight to for her life."

The doctors at Sunderland Royal Hospital, in the UK, diagnosed Phoebe with "necrotising enterocolitis, which left her bowel tissue infected and dying," according to Mirror. 

"We took one day and at a time, fearing that she wasn't going to make it."

The newborn girl underwent extensive surgery to have most of her bowel removed, at just two-weeks-old. A few weeks later, she suffered a cardiac arrest, believed to be a side-effect from the medication given to treat her heart disease.

Phoebe then underwent open heart surgery to close the hole in her heart and have a stent placed in her pulmonary artery. Unfortunately, within weeks, she suffered her second cardiac arrest, causing a blood clot in her brain to rupture causing a stroke and several seizures.

And that wasn't even the end of the list of medical troubles Phoebe had to face during the first months of her life.

Around four-months-old, Phoebe contracted sepsis, which often leads to multi-organ failure, and was sent back to intensive care to receive antibiotics. 

"We didn't get to meet our own daughter until she was six months old. We had six months of hell," stated Katie. "Six months later we could start to try to relax."

Phoebe was discharged from the hospital to go home and be with her family at six-months-old. She will have to have future surgeries to correct further heart troubles, and suffers from short bowel syndrome. But Phoebe has proved she is a survivor.

"If anyone asked me who my hero is, it would be my little girl. She is my hero," Katie shared, according to Mirror. "What she has gone through is what an adult would even struggle with, she's just amazing."

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