Audrina Cardenas was born one year ago Tuesday with her heart outside her body. The very next day, she endured a six-hour surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital in which a team of surgeons actually put it back inside her!
Audrina was born with a rare condition called Ectopia Cordis. Only 8 in one million babies are born with that condition and 90 percent of them are either stillborn or die within the first three days of life, according to Texas Children’s Hospital.
Audrina was able to celebrate her birthday free of medications, but is still on oxygen. Her development is improving every day and she’s now crawling and even trying to walk.
She will still require another surgery in the next few months to construct a chest wall to protect her heart and repair cardiac defects associated with her condition.