5-Year-Old Girl Goes Home After Almost 1,000 Days in Hospital
NEED TO KNOW
- Sienna Barton, from Saratoga Springs, Utah, returned home last week after spending 975 days in a hospital
- She underwent a successful heart transplant in Texas earlier this year
- “She was two years old when she went into the hospital and now, she’s five,” said her dad
After spending nearly 1,000 days in a hospital, a 5-year-old girl from Utah returned home following a successful heart transplant surgery.
Sienna Barton, from Saratoga Springs, was born with a congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, according to Intermountain Health, one of the locations where she was treated.
As the Mayo Clinic explains, the rare condition occurs when when the left side of the heart doesn’t develop fully and can’t pump blood well.
Although Sienna underwent two open heart surgeries, she later developed severe heart failure, according to Intermountain Health. In order to keep her alive as she waited for a new heart, doctors implanted a device to help her heart pump blood.
After waiting about 28 months for a heart transplant, the family relocated to Texas Children’s Hospital for the procedure, Sienna’s mother, Francesca Barton, told ABC affiliate KTVX.
“We flew there May 28 and she got her heart transplant June 25,” she said. “And then we were required to stay 90-100 days in Texas post-transplant.”
She ultimately spent 975 days in the hospital, NBC affiliate KSL reported.
“She was two years old when she went into the hospital and now, she’s five,” her dad, Fano Barton told the station.
When it was time to finally come home, her neighbors decked the whole town in pink and purple streamers and balloons while carrying homemade posters to welcome her, KSL reported.
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Speaking with KTVX, Francesca said, “We knew we had a big village of support, but I didn’t expect it to be so many people, so many people have been behind us helping our family.”
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
