When Victoria and Tristan walked into their routine 12-week scan, they were ready to see the first clear images of their baby. Instead, they watched the sonographer spend an unusually long time scanning the heart, unable to see both sides clearly. They knew something was wrong, and that fear was confirmed when they were called in to attend a doctor’s appointment together – something was wrong with baby Selah’s heart.
The diagnosis came in stages, each appointment bringing more clarity and more questions. At 15 weeks, they travelled from Ulverstone to Hobart for detailed scans and tests. By 17 weeks, they found themselves in Melbourne, sitting across from a specialist who delivered the news that would reshape their future: their growing baby had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.
“He sat us both down and discussed our options,” Victoria recalls. “He spoke to us about the surgeries Selah would require after birth and the pathway we would likely go down.”
Despite the uncertainty, both parents knew they were ready to do whatever it took to give their daughter an amazing life.
From then on, every three weeks, the family flew to Melbourne for monitoring appointments. And at 35 weeks, Victoria moved into the Ronald McDonald House North Fitzroy at Casa Elda Vaccari to await Selah’s arrival. Tristain joined Victoria at 37 weeks, when Selah was born. The joy of welcoming their new baby was short lived. She was immediately transported to the Royal Children’s Hospital and placed on medication that kept crucial heart valves open until she was strong enough for surgery.
At just five days old, Selah underwent her first open-heart surgery to repair her aortic valve and aortic arch.
“It was quite a confronting sight, seeing our five-day-old baby covered in so many cords post-surgery.” Victoria remembers.
It was at this time that Victoria’s aunt flew up to Melbourne with Willa and Navy. While Tristain and Victoria stayed at the hospital with baby Selah, Willa and Navy could be close by at the Ronald McDonald House with Victoria’s aunt.
But this would only be the first step in this family’s journey. At only three weeks old, Selah’s aortic valve began narrowing again, requiring a second surgery. And just as they began to settle into recovery, more complications arose. At two months old, Selah needed her third, and most complex procedure yet, the Ross procedure, where her own pulmonary valve was used to replace her damaged aortic valve.
“We handed her over to the surgical team at 7:30am and was reunited with Selah at 9:30pm,” Victoria remembers of that long day. “Handing her over to the surgical team was again one of the hardest things we’ve ever done, but her strength through it all has amazed us.“
