When Carter took his first breath, he weighed 1 pound 7 ounces – less than a brick and a half of butter.
It was a complicated pregnancy. Carter’s twin sister Madison experienced an infection and was born at just 22 weeks gestation in their hometown of Lethbridge. Sadly, she wasn’t strong enough to survive.
Mom was transported to Foothills Hospital in Calgary where baby Carter was born a few days later (four months before mom was due). Incredibly fragile, he seemed to grow stronger over the next few months. But when an echocardiogram detected an issue with his heart, he was brought to the NICU at Alberta Children’s Hospital where specialists diagnosed Carter with pulmonary hypertension. His arteries were so narrow that, in order to get blood to his lungs, his heart had to work extra hard. As a result, it was enlarged, weakened and beginning to fail.
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To prevent him from going into full heart failure, Carter needed to be treated with extra oxygen. However, extra oxygen put his eyesight at risk. The tiny blood vessels in the back of his eyes were growing abnormally – as sometimes happens with preemies. High doses of oxygen can cause that condition to worsen.
Thankfully, in addition to having an excellent NICU team, the family also had a skilled opthalmologist helping them. She was able to inject medicine into his eyeballs and prevent him from going blind.
Today, Carter is a happy, handsome baby who has smiles for everyone he sees. His parents Breanne and Max are incredibly grateful to their care teams – for saving their son’s life as well as his eyesight. Beyond that, Breanne says everyone in this hospital helped her maintain positive energy for her baby boy – even in the face of all the challenges they were facing.
Community donations helped building and equip both the Edwards Family NICU and the Guru Nanak DevJi Vision Clinic.
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