Philadelphia Hospital Holds Reunion For Fetal Surgery Patients At Lincoln Park Zoo
(CBS) -- About two dozen families gathered Sunday morning for a very special reunion at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
They looked like any other folks checking out the giraffes and monkeys, but the families experienced a lot before coming to the reunion thrown by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
In fact, the kids went through a lot before they were even born.
Podcast
"I guess in a way they are sort of born twice, they had the operations done while the baby is still inside the mom and then the mom is closed up and hopefully the pregnancy continues for weeks and weeks and then is born," said Dr. Scott Adzik, the chief surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, or CHOP.
More than 1,200 fetal surgeries have been performed at CHOP. Christian Lurvey of Grayslake is one of the earlier success stories. At six foot three, you wouldn't know the 14 year old has spina bifida.
"The back of my legs are a little numb but other times I don't even notice I have spina bifida," he said.
The hospital holds a reunion in Philadelphia each June.
This is the first time they've done it in Chicago, so former patients don't have to travel so far to say thanks to the team that saved their lives.
