Our patients: Bailey Sanderford grows up with Children’s Heart Center care
Published on Friday, September 13, 2019
By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu
Bailey Sanderford’s life was saved by crusty tear ducts and the Children’s Heart Center at Children’s of Mississippi Transplant.
Now 17, Bailey is a bright and active Presbyterian Christian School junior thanks to surgeries and care to correct a life-threatening congenital valve defect in her heart.
Bailey Sanderford smiles with her cardiologist Dr. Makram Ebeid, left, and her surgeon, Dr. Brian Kogon, just days after a successful heart surgery. Ebeid has cared for Bailey since she was a baby.
“We were first-time parents and worried over everything,” said her father, Lance Sanderford, “and we noticed her eyes were crusty.”
Their pediatrician, alarmed after listening to Bailey’s heart, sent the family immediately to Batson Children’s Hospital and Dr. Makram Ebeid, pediatric cardiologist.
“They told my parents to get there as quickly as possible,” Bailey said.
“Dr. Ebeid was waiting for us by the door,” Lance said. “He told us then that if we had not come in that day, she wouldn’t have made it.”
Born with a congenital heart defect, the teenager has had 15 heart catheterizations and five heart surgeries, Lance said.
Two of her surgeries were at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, with a third at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her fourth and fifth surgeries were at Batson, the latest being an 11-hour surgery for valve replacement performed in June by Dr. Brian Kogon, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery.
“We hope this is Bailey’s last heart surgery,” Ebeid said. “If repairs are needed in the future, they can be done in our catheterization lab.”
The Children’s Heart Center will have a new home once the Medical Center’s pediatric expansion opens in fall 2020. Additional surgical suites and larger pediatric intensive care rooms are among the features that will increase the capabilities of the center and its medical team.
Lance said Ebeid is like family.
“He’s been the only cardiologist we’ve ever had,” Lance said. “We met him when we came to Batson the first time, and he’s been with us ever since. My wife Gwen and I will always be thankful for the care Bailey has received at the Children’s Heart Center.”