Children's Minnesota pulls off double miracle for young twins with rare heart condition
RICHFIELD, Minn. — The holiday season is filled with joy for many families. That's especially true for a set of young twins from Richfield.
Peyton and Madison Oates might be identical twins, but that doesn't mean they're supposed to have the same stories.
"These two were born at 26 weeks. They were three months premature and extremely small at birth," Steven Oates said.
Their parents, Mara and Steven, said the girls weighed two pounds and measured just 13 inches.
"A little bit of stress but happiness because I so couldn't wait to meet these two and see what happens," Steven said.
Their being micro preemies wasn't the only concern though. Doctors diagnosed both girls with a rare condition — patent ductus arteriosus. They each had an open blood vessel that usually closes when a baby is born around the due date.
"It can be very serious where a baby could have a lower blood pressure, at risk for bleeding in the brain. Long term, they could be at risk for worsening lung disease," Dr. Ryan Meinen said.
The good news is that new technology meant no invasive surgery. Peyton and Madison, though, were too small for the procedure, so the team at Children's Minnesota had to pull off a double miracle — keep the girls alive and growing even with a heart murmur. Then, perform the procedure on two hearts that, when ready, are still no bigger than a golf ball. The plug to close the vessel is a speck compared to a dime.
It worked.
"So it's a live X-ray we can see the heart on the screen and then we use these catheters and wires through the heart," Dr. Marko Vezmar said. "[There are] about 15 to 16 people involved between NICU, transport and the people in the room."
Peyton and Madison turn two in March, and every day for the Oates family is like the holidays — such a gift to be in each other's presence.
"Where they're at now, we couldn't be more happy or appreciative of everything the doctors and nurses here did for us," Steven said.