TEXAS CHILDREN'S FETAL CENTER
Garrett J.
diagnosed before birth,
enormous rare chest mass

Newborn thrives after history-making fetal surgery

Ellen knows the experts might tell her she is holding her newborn son, Garrett, too long and too often. But then again, the experts have no idea how lucky she feels to be able to hold him at all.

Physicians at the Texas Children's Fetal Center, led by fetal surgeons and co-directors Drs. Oluyinka Olutoye and Darrell Cass, performed the first known EXIT- to- resection procedure (or ex utero intrapartum treatment) to remove a particular type of enormous rare mass that was growing in Garrett’s chest and compressing both the heart and the lungs. Without the surgery, Garrett would have died shortly after birth of heart failure or lack of oxygen.

When Ellen visited her Austin obstetrician for an ultrasound at 36 weeks of pregnancy, she had no reason for concern. But when the doctor saw the mass, she called another Austin physician who referred her to the Texas Children’s Fetal Center. He gave the family only a little information about the mass, and none of it was hopeful.

“I was overwhelmed to say the least,” Ellen said. “You just go through the motions, doing what you have to do. One of the hardest parts was telling my husband.”

After the couple arrived at Texas Children’s, they began to relax just a bit when they met  Olutoye at the Texas Children's Fetal Center. Olutoye also is an assistant professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine.

“Dr. Olutoye really set my mind at ease,” Ellen said. “He gave us hope, and we felt much more confident after meeting him.”

Doctors partially delivered Garrett by a two-hour modified C-section, during which they cleared his airway, attached breathing tubes and intravenous lines, and opened his right chest to deliver the mass while he was still attached to the umbilical cord. Then he was cut from the cord and taken to an adjoining room where doctors finished removing the mass in a two-and-a-half-hour procedure. After the birth, as Ellen regained consciousness, the anesthesiologist told her the baby was a boy and showed her the baby’s footprints. Her husband informed her which relatives the baby looked like.

“When Dr. Olutoye came in, I was so happy,” Ellen said. “ I told him he was an angel.”

Garrett with his parents during a follow-up visit at Texas Children's. His family is happy to report that he is doing well.

The couple saw Garrett the next day, and they cried tears of joy when they were finally able to hold him a week later. During the three weeks Garrett was at Texas Children’s, the couple stayed at Ronald McDonald House – Houston.

Now home in Round Rock, Texas, Garrett’s mom says he is eating and sleeping like every other newborn.

Reflecting on their time in Houston, Ellen has positive memories of Texas Children’s.

“Everyone was so nice,” she said. “It was a difficult time for us, but looking at it now, all the people were just so excellent. They really did save Garrett’s life, and we’re so glad they did.”