www.ngtimes.ca
The Voice of North Grenville
Vol. 3, No. 20
May 20, 2015
Bypass machine a cause close to her heart
The North Grenville Times is Locally Owned and Operated
by Hilary Thomson Doctors and Surgeons at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) work day in and day out to save and improve the lives of children all over the country. While they have an immense amount of knowledge and skill, they also depend on the complex and costly equipment they use on a daily basis to preserve the precious lives of their patients. The cardiopulmonary bypass machine is a piece of equipment that replaces the heart and lungs during open heart surgery. The machine ensures that blood and oxygen continue to circulate throughout the body during the opera-
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Adeline’s life was saved at CHEO tion, keeping the child alive while the surgeons do their work. It is a machine that is used 2-3 times a week at CHEO. Sandra Mahoney of Kemptville has witnessed the miracles that the doctors at CHEO can perform with the help of this machine. Her daughter, nine month old Adeline, has congenital heart disease and recently underwent open heart surgery at CHEO that saved her life. After the surgery, Sandra was informed by Adeline’s doctors that the machine which allowed them to save her daughter’s life was on its last legs. It was only a matter of time until they would
have to stop using it, as any malfunction during an operation would prove catastrophic for the child on the operating table. Dr. Gyaandeo Maharajh is the chief of cardiovascular surgery at CHEO, and Adeline’s surgeon. He likes to use the analogy of an airplane when talking about the importance of having confidence in their cardiopulmonary bypass machine during surgery. “Whether you are going on a trip to Toronto for forty minutes, or you’re flying across the globe, the airplane needs to work just as well,” he says. Sandra found out that Adeline had congenital heart
disease when she was 34 weeks pregnant. Since then, the team at CHEO have been by her side, first planning the birth and then monitoring Adeline to stay on top of any issues that may arise while her heart is growing. With her heart condition, Adeline is also at risk of developing other health issues. “When you are told your daughter has special needs, it’s kind of like closing your eyes and seeing all these doors and you don’t know which one to go through next,” Sandra says, teary eyed. Adeline is far from being a rare case. According to the
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