The last battle for Alice’s heart

Appearances can be deceptive. Under a broad smile, there may be hidden everyday struggle with a serious heart defect. A girl, appearing to be a picture of health, may have a history of three serious operations, three battles for life and be waiting for the next. A disease is often not visible. It’s lurking and waiting to attack when you don’t expect it, to deflate your plans, dreams, happiness, life ...

Alice’s parents convinced about appearances’ fallibility fourteen years ago. The pregnancy went very well, there were no problems, the future mother felt really well. Who would’ve expected that there was something wrong? They were eagerly looking forward to appearing of the girl to the world. The day finally came in July 2001. That day the first problem appeared - the heart of the little baby began to beat slower. Doctors at hospital in Tarnów decided about caesarean section. Alice eventually reached the arms of her parents. It seemed to be ok again, until the third day after her birth, when Alice began to get blue around the nose, hands and lips. She was immediately transported by an ambulance to Krakow. Her mum stayed at the maternity department while her dad and uncle followed the ambulance to Krakow, where they had to stand up to the diagnosis - the girl was born with a very serious and complex heart desease. She has double outlet right ventricle, ventricular septal defect, hypoplastic aortic arch, coarctation of the aorta and subaortic stenosis aortic.

To save little Alice’s life, it was necessary to operate her at University Hospital in Krakow. The operation was conducted by professor Edward Malec. The condition of the girl has improved, but it was still severe. Alice was fighting for her life for the next three months in the intensive care unit. She could not breathe or eat alone, was very weak. Professor Malec has decided to carry out another operation of her small heart. It was done in October 2001. Lasting many hours operation, was supposed to allow her to breath and live an independent life. It worked – her parents recall that as a breakthrough, enabling the four-month girl starting to live real life. Alice opened her eyes, started to breathe independently, eat, drink and laugh out loud ... It was a great joy and a great success of the professor and his team.

Alice went home. She was growing up, developing, romping like her peers. For over three years there was no reason for concern. When she was 3.5, it turned out that her heart causes some problems again - a right ventricular outflow tract obstruction was identified. The operation, which was a success, was again performed by professor Edward Malec. Alice’s parents remember how amazing was the transformation in the girl that day – in the morning, before the operation, she was crying and sulking, in the evening, after the operation, she fell asleep with a smile on her face. Eight days later, they were at home.

Home, kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school... For over 10 years Alice has lived like other children. She doesn’t get ill, rarely catches infections. She loves sports, rides a bike, goes swimming and skating. She goes to school, listens to music, she loves English. She is a cheerful, smiling, liked by everyone teenager. Normally, she doesn’t think about her disease. But she must be under constant medical observation, to catch sufficiently early any alarming signals, just like now. For a long time her disease has been giving an impression that everything is fine, however the recent results of medical examinations has shown a considerable narrowing of the pulmonary trunk. For her heart, to be able to work properly, it is necessary to perform the fourth operation, expanding the pulmonary artery - it should be her last surgery.

The girl's parents want the operation to be performed again by Professor Malec, who has already operated on her three times so far and he knows her heart as well as anyone else. However the operation can be done only in Germany, and the cost of it exceeds the financial capacity of her parents. They are doing their best to earn the required amount. The girl’s mum is working in the Netherlands to earn money for her daughter's operation, but when Alice is hospitalized, she is with her - the last time when Alice was in hospital, her mother arrived there five minutes later, straight from the bus from the Netherlands ... Despite the efforts, they still need a lot of money and the operation is going to be performed at the beginning of 2016. Therefore they ask for help – let’s help Alice to enter adulthood with a healthy heart.