Meet Emersyn
EMERSYN’S STORY
For Jeremie and Shanna Lucas, the long-awaited news of their daughter, Emersyn Rae Lucas, was cause for celebration. They had been trying to conceive since 2010 – 9 YEARS!! - having undergone several rounds of fertility treatments and, eventually, IVF. So when Emersyn was first diagnosed with CDH by their doctor in Massillon, Ohio at their 20-week ultrasound, they were devastated. “He came in and told us the good things first,” Shanna recounted. “But then he let us know that they couldn’t see one of her lungs, and it looked like her organs were in her chest, and her heart was to the right.” Fortunately, their doctor had previous experience with CDH and was able to give them hope by telling them about the magnificent team at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. “He had helped another couple with the same diagnosis that year. They had their baby a few months before and that baby was doing really well.” Even though the hospital was four hours away, they knew they would do anything, and go any distance, for their daughter.
Cincinnati Children’s called Jeremie and Shanna right away, giving them more information about CDH and scheduling an appointment for more extensive testing at 23-weeks. When they arrived for her first appointment, the MRI and ultrasounds showed lung capacity of 26% but her liver was still down–an encouraging sign. They kept going back for testing, week by week, and Emersyn kept steadily improving. By the time of her final MRI her case had improved from severe to mild/moderate, and at 35 weeks they temporarily moved to Cincinnati, eagerly awaiting her birth at 38 weeks.
Emersyn Rae Lucas made her debut to the world and her birthing team at 12:17 PM on February 13, 2020. “Her case was more severe than they thought.” Shanna remembers. She was quickly rushed away and put on ECMO. The doctors, suspecting she also had a brain bleed, weren’t sure of her chances, but optimism and hope carried the next week and after eight long days, things began to turn around - so much so that at 3 weeks her surgeons were able to complete her repair surgery. Complications following her surgery led Emersyn to need multiple blood transfusions as she was struggling to maintain oxygen levels. It wasn’t until surgical fellow Christina came into the NICU to put in a chest tube that they discovered Emersyn was bleeding internally. The doctors rushed to action, transforming the NICU into an emergency O.R. Jeremie and Shanna nervously waited in a waiting room while the team went to work. Things were very touch and go, but eventually, Emersyn stabilized. “That was our low point,” Shanna recounts, “But it’s always darkest right before the dawn, and from then on her recovery actually began.”
Though it took months for her to heal from her surgery, Emersyn was finally released to go home on August 12 with oxygen and a G-tube. After some complications maintaining her oxygen levels, she went back to the hospital for six weeks to have a trach put in. These days, Emersyn is showing the world what she’s made of, joyfully working through physical and occupational therapy and being a bright, beam of light in the world. She’s a happy, fiery baby who loves playing with her Grandma and Grandpa. More than anything, she amazes her parents with her incredible adaptivity and strength, and she’s certainly an inspiration to everyone who meets her.
As told to Fore Hadley by Shanna Lucas aka “Mom”
About the Fore Hadley Angels in the NICU Fund
Support and proceeds for the Fore Hadley Angels in the NICU Fund will go towards assisting current and future families like Emmersyn’s, by providing financial contributions to assist families with the costs associated with extended, long distance travel and living arrangements. Costs that are often a must to ensure the proper specialty care for CDH babies.