Rylie’s mom went for an ultrasound at 32-weeks pregnant because she was measuring small. The ultrasound showed Rylie had a heart defect, there was little to no amniotic fluid and the placenta was no longer working properly. Rylie was delivered via an emergency C-section, but things didn’t look good. She was born with a hole in her heart and rushed to the NICU where she stayed for three months.

At six months old, she returned to the Stollery for open-heart surgery. A routine procedure that usually takes only three or four hours took more than seven for Rylie’s team to complete. The next day, Rylie took a turn for the worse and spent a week on life support. Things started to look up for Rylie, when she suddenly went into heart failure. Rylie’s team decided to move forward with a risky second open-heart surgery. Rylie is continuing to thrive to this day and her family is grateful to have a world-class children’s hospital in their backyard.