Baby With Rare Heart Condition Woke Up From Coma Smiling, But Now Needs Life-Saving Surgery

Nov 05, 2019 by apost team

For any new parent, the biggest fear they have throughout their pregnancy is that their child won't be born healthy. Most new parents don't care about their child's gender or what they'll look like, but rather just hope and pray for a healthy baby boy or girl.

Stuart and Emma Labuschagne thought they had a perfectly healthy baby boy when Emma gave birth to little Michael. As they tell in a social media video, however, after 14 weeks of good health, Michael needed to be rushed to the emergency room due to cardiac arrest. In the blink of an eye, Stuart and Emma began to live every parent's worst nightmare.

Emma first realized that something was wrong with her son when he was struggling to breathe. The paramedics who arrived at the Labuschagne home worked on Michael tirelessly, until his heart finally began beating again.

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At the hospital, Michael was put into a medically induced coma and had to breathe with the assistance of a respirator. As the days passed, Emma and Stuart tried to stay hopeful. After all, Michael was still alive, despite the fact that only seven percent of babies who experience his type of cardiac failure manage to survive.

After five days of being in a coma, the miraculous happened. Michael opened his eyes and smiled at his father.

Emma and Stuart were overjoyed, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Doctors warned that Michael's oxygen deprivation on the night of his cardiac arrest could lead to lifelong brain damage.

Thankfully, after brain scans, the couple received the absolutely glorious news that their son had no signs of brain damage from his ordeal.

Michael is going to survive and thrive as a fully functioning little boy. However, he will need a pacemaker and eventual heart surgery in order to ensure that he doesn't have another episode like the one that put him into the coma.

Doctors at the world-renowned Boston Children's Hospital believe that they might be able to help Michael to live without the need of a pacemaker.

Be sure to show this story to as many people as possible so that they can learn about Michael's courage and help in any way they can. What did you think of this story? Tell us below.