At only three years old, young Billie-Rose received a heart transplant at the CHU Sainte-Justine, an operation that should change her life.
Before this surgery, the child was kept alive thanks to a heart from Berlin.
“She was very very sick. Berlin’s heart, what does it do, is it infuses the rest of his body for real. We mightn’t even feed him. She was so weak because her heart was failing,” explains Dr. Nancy Poirier, cardiac surgeon at CHU Ste-Justine, to TVA Nouvelles.
Relieved that her daughter has finally received a new heart, Billie-Rose’s mother, Mélanie Fortier, also has a thought for the loved ones of the young donor.
“All the time we were here, yes, we wanted a heart, but it was always the internal fight of a family who will lose their child so that me, my daughter can live,” she says.
“It’s hard to think regarding the families who are going to be grieving, but I hope it gives them some comfort knowing that my daughter can live through her child. It does not have a price. It’s extraordinary to make this kind of self-sacrifice there because it’s a bit like a part of the parents who go into my child, ”adds the mother.
Billie-Rose’s surgery lasted eight hours.
Five days later, she was already starting to walk in her room in the intensive care unit.
The three-year-old child left the intensive care unit at CHU Sainte-Justine in the last few days and should soon be able to leave the hospital.
Since the beginning of the year, four children have undergone a heart transplant at the CHU Ste-Justine.
Three children are still waiting for such an intervention.
