Jade's Helpful Heart Foundation

Jade Nesselhauf was born on February 25th, 2016. Doctors diagnosed our baby girl with Pulmonary Atresia with Ventricular Septal Defect, listed under Tetralogy of Fallot. Only one in every 10,000 babies are born with this rare heart condition. Babies born with this condition often have a bluish skin color, because their blood doesn’t carry enough oxygen, they have trouble breathing and eating, and are incredibly sleepy. Jade has had four open heart surgeries and multiple procedures.

Things took a turn for the worst for baby Jade August 2016, post heart surgery, some complications arose which lead to a cardiac arrest. She received chest compressions for four mins until she was reintubated. After being reintubated, she went into cardiac arrest again (this is when the surgeon believes her shunt clotted) she received compressions for 1 hour and eight mins before being placed on ECMO. This resulted in a hypoxic brain injury that left her severely brain damaged. After 463 days at Cardinal Glennon and Ranken Jordan, Jade came home. She has a trach, is part-time on a ventilator, all her food is via g-button, and goes through extensive therapies. She had the cards stacked against her before she was even born, but she fights every day and has become our miracle baby. Last year we held a race to help with medical costs.

#prayersforbabyjade