This is Valeria and she is a lucky baby! During the second week of the Novick Cardiac Alliance trip to Nizhny Dr Novick was asked to see this 14-month-old girl who they thought had congenital mitral regurgitation. This is a very bad diagnosis for such a young baby and would mean several surgeries throughout her lifetime, if she survived. After looking at the Echocardiagram Dr Novick was able to diagnose a very rare but curable condition called ALCAPA.
If Valeria had not had surgery this week she would have died very soon, however she was was lucky enough to be the first ever patient in the Nizhny Heart centre to receive this type of surgery and she did really well. This is a picture of her the day after her operation and she was looking at heading home for Christmas. Her parents are very happy- they had hoped that Valeria would get the first of her operations this Christmas and instead she has a completely healed heart. Merry Christmas and happy new year (and many more!) Valeria!!
