{"id":205138,"date":"2019-06-24T10:57:19","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T15:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=205138"},"modified":"2019-06-23T19:17:07","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T00:17:07","slug":"wiggling-toes-less-invasive-spina-bifida-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wiggling-toes-less-invasive-spina-bifida-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"‘She’s wiggling her toes’: New, less invasive spina bifida surgery a big success for Abigail"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Baby Abigail has become the first baby to undergo a new kind of surgery to treat spina bifida before birth. This new procedure is considered to be safer for both mother and child.<\/p>\n

At just 16 weeks, Abigail’s parents Gilda and Arnuf Giron received the shocking news that their preborn baby girl had the most severe form of spina bifida called myelomeningocele. Her spinal cord was open and leaking fluid, leading to nerve damage that could cause paralysis. The diagnosis was frightening — one that causes many parents to give up and abort their babies. But this couple wasn’t looking to quit; they were looking to win the fight for their daughter’s health and life.<\/p>\n

Currently, prenatal surgery for spina bifida is performed at about 25 weeks and involves cutting into the mother’s abdomen and uterus like a C-section. A few hospitals offer a less invasive endoscopic surgery that still cuts into the mother’s abdomen, but only makes small cuts into the uterus. Special tools are placed through those small incisions to perform the surgery. Neither of these options looked like a good choice for the Girons, according to STAT, because their insurance wouldn’t cover the less invasive surgery, and that surgery was also out of state. They had to make a decision as to whether to do the standard surgery and deal with a more difficult recovery for Gilda and a C-section at birth, or move their family and spend all of their savings on the less-invasive surgery. But then, a third option came out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

STAT<\/a> reports that a new study was forming for a new kind of fetal surgery for spina bifida. It would be safer for Gilda and it would be close to their home. It was also covered by insurance. The couple wasted no time in meeting with the lead surgeon, Dr. Ramen Chmait.<\/p>\n

“I went into the meeting saying, ‘I want to do this, I just don’t want to be the first one,'” Gilda told STAT<\/a>. “He said, ‘Well, you are the first one.'”<\/p>\n

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