Home for the holidays

Friday, December 14, 2012 - 14:54
Ten-week-old Rebecka Cousineau will get to celebrate Christmas at home with her family, after recently being discharged from the ICU.
 
Rebecka was admitted over a month ago after doctors in Valleyfield noticed that her heart was quite enlarged. On arrival at the MCH ER, it was discovered that she was suffering from a coarctation of the aorta (narrowing of the aortic arch), as well as a ventricular septal defect (holes between the two pumping chambers of the heart).
 
Too weak for surgery, doctors decided to let her heart muscle rest for almost three weeks before operating. Her family feared the worst and asked Father Paul to baptize Rebecka in her hospital room. Soon after, Dr. Christo Tchervenkov managed to repair the aortic arch and closed the ventricular septal defect. Without a doubt, little Rebecka is a fighter and a survivor – in fact she is already smiling and breastfeeding.
 
Everyone at the Montreal Children’s Hospital is so happy to see her go home for the holidays. We wish the Cousineau family the very best for 2013!
 
In the photo: Patricia, Rebecka, Francis, and Dr. Charles Rohlicek,
one of the cardiologists involved in Rebecka’s care.