Maria Shriver

Jenni Balck

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Blog Posts

• January 24, 2012

  

  Lessons I’ve Learned as a Medical Momma

  Follow @BrookesBigHeart

  “If she makes it, she’ll probably need a new heart.” As I looked at my cooing little 2-month-old girl, Brooke, I could not wrap my brain around what the cardiologist had just said.

  She had a serious, rare heart disease called dilated cardiomyopathy. Brooke had been fussy and spitting up for the past 2 weeks, but she had been so healthy leading up to that point.

  At her two-month check up, her pediatrician thought he heard something “funky” when he listened to her heart and had sent us to a pediatric cardiologist, “just to be safe”. June 17, 2009, was the day that forever changed who I am as a mother and as a woman.

  After two weeks in the PICU, our sweet Brooke was able to come home on a myriad of medications. Brooke thrived at home. She hit all her developmental milestones and forged an unbreakable bond with her protective big brother, Billy. However, after two years at home, her heart could not continue the fight and she was listed for a heart transplant.