At 6 weeks pregnant we found out we were having twins. Excited, and scared at the same time we embraced the news we had and wondered how we were gonna have two newborns at once. At our 9-week appointment, we were told one of the twins had vanished. Fast forward to our 20-week anatomy, we saw the twin again. A specialist discovered I had a TRAP sequence—I had a viable baby and a non-viable baby that was still growing and causing distress. We left that appointment on September 20, 2022 and immediately got on a plane to Houston, TX to see more specialists at Texas Children’s and stayed until February 14 of the following year. The Texas Children’s team discovered our baby had a congenital heart defect called Truncus Arteriosus with an interrupted aortic arch. We were told the baby would probably have to be resuscitated when she was born and need surgery.

On January 10 our little girl Klay was born. She came out screaming and needed no assistance until day 4 when she was on high flow oxygen and then by day 7 she was on c pap. At a week old she was scheduled for her complete heart repair. A 14-hour long surgery that went great until they were weaning her off bypass and discovered she was hemorrhaging. She should have never came out of the OR but she fought hard day after day. For 5 weeks, we were able to get to see her pretty eyes, talk to her, see her personality, and experience parenthood, as we always wanted. On February 11 at one month old, the doctors were finally able to close her chest. What a wonderful day it was. It was a step closer in her recovery and a step closer to getting to go home. Little did we know that in 48 hours we would be meeting with a team of doctors and her surgeon about pulling life support. When they closed her chest, Klay retained some fluid and her kidneys never turned back on to get the fluid off. With that, she went into complete organ failure. On February 14, we stopped all life support and she was placed in my arms where she went to heaven 45 seconds later.

Our little girl fought so hard but she was so ready to go. Her little body had endured so much. We are thankful for the time we had with her and the memories we have. We miss her so much, and we want her name and memory to continue to live on while we help other parents and families that are going through the same thing we did. In honor of Klay, we are asking for gifts to Texas Children’s to support other Heart Center patient families whose children are being treated for congenital heart disease. 

Thank you so much,

Hanna and Trent Dews