Baby girl with rare heart condition finally receives a successful transplant –

A life-saving organ transplant was performed in a teenage girl who waited more than 200 days for a new heart after being diagnosed with a rare fatal heart disease.

Elodie Baker, less than a year old, received a transplant on March 27 after a long 100-day stay at a Chicago hospital.

In August, he was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition that is difficult for doctors to detect, but often fatal.

The doctors almost lost his condition when his mother brought him in for a checkup, but now with the transplant, he is expected to lead a healthy life in the future.

Baker’s family (pictured) took him to the hospital and struggled to eat after his mother cried while breastfeeding him.

Doctors were initially unable to work out what was wrong with Baker (pictured), but an X-ray revealed that he was suffering from a rare but deadly heart disease.

“Our pregnancy was normal and we had an uneventful delivery and went home with Elodie,” Elodie’s mother, Katie, told me. Good Morning America in an interview this week.

Baker realized something was wrong with her daughter when she was having trouble eating, and she began to cry while her mother breastfed her.

“She stayed at our home in Minnesota for seven weeks and one night she didn’t want to eat. I was breastfeeding and she screamed and my heart dropped and I said: [my husband] Collin said, “There is a problem. We should welcome that,” he explained.

Doctors initially told Baker that they weren’t sure what was wrong with her daughter, as nothing had caught their attention.

Just before the bakers returned home, the doctors recommended an X-ray of the ax, which was a life-saving decision.

“I think they thought of sending us home, but they said, ‘Let’s get X-rays to be safe,'” Baker said.

“Then the x-rays came in. They saw her heart enlarge, and it was August 21. And we haven’t been home since.”

After being diagnosed, Elodie Baker (pictured) was transferred from Minnesota to Chicago for treatment. He used a breathing and feeding tube and a device to help his heart pump blood

On March 27, Elodie (centre) successfully underwent a heart transplant, 200 days after diagnosis and 100 days in hospital.

Baker (pictured) is well now and is in therapy to update his peers on his development milestones.

Doctors working on Elodie’s case struggled to determine the cause of the condition, which occurs when a person’s ventricle is enlarged and has difficulty pumping blood.

Baker would eventually be transported from his Minnesota home to a hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where he would receive treatment.

“In Elodie’s case, genetic testing has yielded no answer as to why she developed this type of cardiomyopathy, and in this case it’s called idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, which means at this point we don’t really know why it happened to her. Elodie has been at Lurie Children’s in Chicago for months.” Dr. Anna Joong, who oversees the U.S., told GMA.

Doctors quickly decided that she needed a heart transplant, which can be difficult for a young child because the typical adult organs present don’t fit snugly to their chest.

While the doctors waited, she implanted a pediatric ventricular assist device (VAD) in Elodie to act as an artificial heart.

He also needed a feeding tube and a breathing tube as it continued to be a challenge for him during treatment.

Pictured: Elodie Baker receiving treatment at Lurie’s Hospital in Chicago

Pictured: Elodie Baker receiving treatment at Lurie’s Hospital in Chicago

“His heart was so sick, the intravenous drugs weren’t enough, and he needed a VAD,” Joong said.

“We use this device as a way to connect him to a transplant, so it’s a way to support his heart, make it stronger while he waits for his donor’s heart.”

Finally, a heart became available and the surgery was successfully completed last month.

Doctors told GMA that he is currently still in a feeding tube, having his breathing tube removed and undergoing physical and speech therapy to help him meet his developmental goals for his age.

“It has already been removed from the IC aid and is sitting upright,” Joong explains.

“He is a strong child and we are so grateful to the donor’s family.”

In 2010, researchers found that the condition causes about 403,000 deaths worldwide each year, and that number is rising.