Jennifer Mathews: Baby Arissa is healthy now but her parents expected the worst before she was born. Doctors discovered a birth defect where her intestine is protruded outside her body. She had at first five operations when she was only a few hours old.
Mina Mangewala: I didn’t get to hug her or kiss her, they had to take her for surgery right away.
Jennifer Mathews: 72 days later, Rob and Mina got to take Arissa home.
Rob Mangewala: And when we finally left with her, we just felt like we had to race out of there, you know, like they are going to keep us in there.
Jennifer Mathews: Doctor Hammin Lee not only operates on newborns like Arissa, he also performs what are called fetal surgeries, done in utero to correct for the fete bags that would kill a child if you waited to operate after birth.
Hammin Lee: We can actually correct the defect and allow the child to be healthy or even surviving otherwise unsurvive by birth defect.
Jennifer Mathews: Fetal surgeries carry risks for the mother and there is no guarantee the child will benefit. But those risks are going down with better tools and imaging techniques. Doctors use them to travel into the uterus, see the fetus through antiscopes and correct the problem.
Hammin Lee: We are now doing procedures through needles, in other instances, through instruments of the size of the straw.
Mina Mangewala: Arissa, where you are going?
Jennifer Mathews: Arissa’s parent to be a bless because she has a healthy future ahead of her and just celebrated her first birthday.
Rob Mangewala: Everyday, she just -- she teaches me something new everyday. She is so strong and so happy.
Jennifer Mathews: This is Jennifer Mathews reporting.
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