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WAUWATOSA, Wisconsin (WTMJ) -- It has been three weeks since an Oconomowoc family has been able to hold their brand-new baby in their arms. Their little girl, Eleanor, is in a fight for her life and needs a new heart to survive.
“With a newborn, you just want to snuggle all day and hold them,” said Laura Welch, Eleanor’s mother. "And now it is just, she hears us, we read to her."
That is the only option for Laura now since 4-week-old Eleanor cannot be held while the machines keep her alive at Children’s Hospital Wisconsin neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“The cry is just the sweetest sound,” said Tyler Welch, remembering the last time he even heard his daughter.
“We haven’t heard her cry in, I don’t know, three weeks,” said Laura.
That is because Eleanor is in a medically induced coma. She was born on Jan. 13 with a congenital heart defect, something Children’s Hospital Wisconsin says is becoming all too common.
“Almost one in 500 children can have some form of congenital heart disease. It varies in complexity,” said Dr. Alexander Raskin, director of heart failure, Children’s Hospital Wisconsin.
Eleanor's case is complex and rare.
“Essentially, Eleanor only has half of a normal heart or the function of half of a normal heart,” said Tyler.
"Meaning she will have to be in the hospital on this heart pump until she is ready to be a transplant candidate, and when she is, she will have to wait in the hospital for a heart,” said Raskin.
But the issue is Eleanor has to be well enough to even get on the list to start that process.
The family says Thursday, Eleanor showed she can breathe without a machine. Doctors say they are now working on the steps to get Eleanor out of her coma. The family says while Eleanor fights, they know the next steps include getting a heart, so they hope others think of Eleanor and consider organ donation.
“To see how tough she is and nothing getting in her way is giving us hope. It is a miracle that we even have a chance and that she is as strong as she is,” said Tyler.
