When Rachel was only 3 days old, she had life-saving heart surgery at Texas Children's Heart Center^®.

Jean was nearly six months pregnant when she and husband Scott were given a grim forecast for their unborn child. A Houston-area obstetrical specialist diagnosed their baby with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a condition in which the left ventricle is too small to pump blood to the body.

The doctor gave the couple three unpromising options: terminating the pregnancy; waiting for the baby to receive an unlikely heart transplant; or receiving an experimental treatment that had not been successful with previous patients.

"We had been given three ways for Rachel to die," Jean said. "The only good thing that came of that visit was that we were referred to Texas Children's."

A fetal echocardiogram was performed on Jean at the echocardiography lab at Texas Children's Heart Center^®. There, Jean and Scott met Dr. John Kovalchin.

Although previous doctors had not been hopeful, Dr. Kovalchin told the couple about a fourth option: a three-stage surgical approach that would improve the flow of blood throughout Rachel's body.

On the morning of Rachel's first surgery, she was three days old. She will have the last of her operations after her third birthday.

"Everyone was very conscious that Rachel was a person, not just a patient," Jean said. "And they respectfully and patiently addressed our concerns."

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