Maddison's Story

In recent times Maddison has become the face of HeartKids. Her innocence and appealing gaze endears all who view her photo. Her life story and the many challenges she has had to face is told in this moving account from her mother Marnie.

This was our third pregnancy. We had already had the first ultrasound at 10 weeks and this had showed that everything was proceeding as normal. At the 20 week ultrasound I noticed some concern in the sonographer's face and saw that she was spending a lot of time looking at our unborn child's heart.

After more ultrasounds at Monash Medical Centre (MMC), our unborn child was diagnosed with Tricuspid Artesia with a VSD. This was explained to us in lay terms as: of the four chambers of our child's heart, only two had developed. The chambers that supplied blood and oxygen to the body were fine but the chambers that serviced the lungs had not developed. Our unborn child would continue to grow normally while in the womb, but would struggle to breathe once born.

Following this diagnosis I had many ultrasounds / tests at MMC to check that there were no other abnormalities.

At week 23 of the pregnancy we had an appointment with Professor Sam Menahem to advise us of any other abnormalities and to confront us with the decision of whether we wished to proceed with the pregnancy or not. Fortunately there were no other abnormalities and after Prof Menahem explained the series of future surgeries required, the associated risks and the quality of life our unborn child could expect, we agreed to proceed.

Maddison Grace Watkins was born at MMC 29th December 1999. She was very blue when born. Maddison had her first procedure within 24 hours (a Balloon Atrial Septostomy to allow the blood to mix to keep her alive until her 1st open heart surgery). Maddison spent the 1st week of life in Intensive Care.

February 2000 (age 6 weeks) Maddison's 1st open heart surgery to insert a shunt was performed by Mr Andrew Cochrane at the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital (RCH). (Mr Cochrane has performed all of Maddison's open heart surgeries to date). Maddison had 1 week in hospital while she recovered.

After Maddison's surgery we were reunited in the Intensive Care Unit. It was a shock to see the myriad of "lines" going in, out or taped to her small body. Some of these were to provide medicines, pain relief or sustenance, some were connected to machines to monitor her vital statistics and some to drain unwanted fluids from her body. There were over twenty but it became encouraging to see the number of "lines" reducing on a day by day basis. January 2001 (age 13 months) Maddison had her 2nd open heart surgery at RCH. This was to perform the 1st stage of Fontan procedure. (In lay terms again, this involved moving arteries from the bad side of the heart to the good) Maddison spent another week recovering in hospital.

Maddison was a very happy baby and toddler but was not very active. She would run out of breath after running the length of the house and would need to sit and rest a while. Maddison would be more content sitting and playing with her dolls or toys.

April 2005 (age 5 1/2 years) Maddison had her 3rd open heart surgery at RCH for the 2nd stage of the Fontan procedure. This was the hardest procedure for Maddison to endure as she was now at an age when she understood what was going to happen to her and Maddison now also had an understanding of pain. Maddison spent 1 1/2 weeks recovering in hospital.

Maddison is now aged nine and immediately became much more active after her last heart surgery. She loves her swimming lessons (twice a week) and plays for the local basketball team. We are very proud of our little girl and look forward to watching her grow into a beautiful young lady.

We cannot thank enough, Professor Sam Menahem, Mr Andrew Cochrane, and the staff and nurses at both Monash Medical Centre and Royal Children's Hospital. We also thank HeartKids for their work in reducing the incidence of children with heart disease and for the support they provide HeartKids and their families.