Baby Born With Heart Outside Chest Survives, Audrina Cardenas, Leaves Hospital

Audrina Cardenas, a three-month-old baby who was born on Oct. 15 with her heart outside of her chest, was released from the hospital on Wednesday. The genetic deformity, “ectopia cordis,” required extensive work from a group of surgeons at Texas Children’s Hospital to save the baby's life.

"A multidisciplinary team of surgeons saved Audrina's life during a miraculous six-hour, open-heart surgery where they reconstructed her chest cavity to make space for the one-third of her heart that was outside of her body," the hospital said in a statement.

"They gave me the option to terminate the pregnancy, continue with the pregnancy and do something called comfort care at the time of delivery, where instead of doing anything painful to her or do surgery they let you spend as much time with her until she passes, or opt for a high-risk surgery to help repair the heart," said Audrina’s mother, Ashley, who became aware of Audrina’s condition while she was 16 weeks pregnant, told ABC News.

Audrina is an example of a miracle case: only eight in one million babies are victims to this condition, and 90% of those babies do not survive. Audrina left the hospital wearing a pink protective chest shield in order to protect her heart.

—Hal Sundt

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