A mother who was told by doctors to terminate her pregnancy at six months has revealed she has no regrets over the decision to keep her daughter.
Tasha Anderson was 26 weeks pregnant when doctors found her baby had a condition where her heart grew on the wrong side of her body.
She claims physicians told her it would leave her baby girl with severe mental or physical disabilities and so they recommended an abortion.
But Tasha and her husband Sam, who are from Lander, Wyoming, refused and said they would love their daughter regardless.
They said it was ‘God’s intention for her’ and were shocked by the fact they were being recommended an abortion despite the fetus’ age.
Life hasn’t been easy for little Jamesyn, who was born at 32 weeks in May 2023 and weighed just 2lbs, after also suffering from reduced blood flow in the womb which stunted her growth.
She was diagnosed with another condition where her esophagus did not connect properly to her stomach. Doctors say it is not uncommon for children with the condition to be born with other problems.
She has been through 27 surgeries to try and correct the defect and will receive her 28th procedure today.
Tasha and Sam Anderson were told at six months to abort their daughter Jamesyn (pictured) because her heart was on the wrong side of her body. The parents refused
Ms Anderson told local publication Cowboy State Daily: ‘I can’t even imagine life without her.
‘She’s taught me so much about strength and resilience, as she goes into these surgeries.
‘She’s a favorite [in the hospital] now because she has such a great personality, and they know her to be such a fighter.’
Today’s surgery aims to close a hole in the tube that has allowed food to spill into her lungs and trigger infections.
Jamesyn is now 18 months old and like a little ‘spitfire’, according to her parents.
She is a happy and smiley baby, and despite not being able to crawl or talk, her parents say that cognitively she is ‘where she needs to be’.
Her heart condition, called dextrocardia, affects about one in 12,000 babies born in the United States, statistics suggest. In many cases, however, the condition itself causes no symptoms.
Johns Hopkins Medicine says online that children with dextrocardia but no other conditions ‘can lead full, healthy lives’.
In some cases, the condition isn’t diagnosed until someone is in later life and comes to the hospital for a separate medical issue.
The baby was also diagnosed with an esophagus that did not connect to her stomach, leaving her unable to take food. She has been through multiple surgeries since to repair this
She was also diagnosed with esophageal atresia, or an esophagus — tube that carries food from the mouth — that did not connect to the stomach.
It was not clear when her esophageal condition was diagnosed, but the CDC says online that the condition is ‘rarely’ diagnosed during pregnancy. It affects about one in every 4,200 babies.
The two conditions are not often reported together, medical reports suggest, with a medical report from 2021 saying it was the first to describe a case of a baby having dextrocardia with esophageal atresia and a complication with the windpipe.
But doctors at Johns Hopkins do say that children who have dextrocardia, also often have other complications. They say online: ‘Dextrocardia on its own does not usually cause problems, but it tends to occur with other conditions that can have serious effects on the heart, lungs and other vital organs.’
Jamesyn’s dextrocardia was diagnosed in spring 2023, when her parents were sent for scans in Colorado after Ms Anderson had shown signs of restricted blood flow for seven weeks.
Describing the appointment, Mr Anderson told Cowboy State Daily that the parents had to ask the doctor to leave the room when an abortion was recommended.
‘Is this going to be an issue for you?’, Mr Anderson asked his wife, ‘If she does have physical or mental disabilities? Are you going to love the kid any different?’
Ms Anderson said no, to which her husband replied, ‘Perfect. We’re on the same page.
The pair then told their doctor: ‘No matter how she’s created and how she’s born, that’s God’s intention for her.’
The birth was complicated, with Ms Anderson suffering from pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure risking damage to organs, and losing more than half her blood.
After dilation failed, Jamesyn was born via C-section — at which point it also emerged that the placenta had grown through the lining of the uterus.
The new parents were only able to hold their daughter a month after the birth, when she weighed three pounds.
Jamesyn went for her 28th surgery today, after doctors found that foods were leaking from her esophagus and into her lungs
The youngster’s esophageal condition also meant that they had to feed her via IVs inserted into her veins, which proved difficult because these were often hard to find.
In one case, an IV drip meant to feed her was actually put into her throat, causing it to leak fluid into the lungs that nearly led her to suffocate.
Jamesyn was on the neonatal intensive care unit for the first four months of her life, having repeat surgeries to stretch the esophagus to get it to the stomach.
At five months old, she nearly lost her left hand after an infection from surgery caused it to turn blue and come within an hour of needing an amputation.
On another occasion, doctors had to place her into a two-week coma.
At 11 months old, she also had an emergency airlift from Wyoming to a hospital in Denver, Colorado, after she started to struggle to breathe.
Her latest surgery was ordered after her recent hospitalization with RSV, norovirus and pneumonia which revealed that food was leaking into her stomach.
At the moment, doctors are also feeding her via a tube inserted directly into her stomach — with this being needed after she suffered from an extreme bout of vomiting.
At 14 months old, they had managed to raise her weight to nine pounds.
The parents did not reveal how much the surgeries are costing or whether they have health insurance, but Mr Anderson said he is now working multiple jobs to help cover the bills. Ms Anderson also said she has to wake up multiple times in the night to give her daughgter medications.
They are currently seeking donations on GiveSendGo, and have so far reached $18,700 of their $20,000 target.
The parents have also set up a prayer channel for her, ranging as far as South Korea, where a group of people pray for their daughter regularly.
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