Brave 3-Year-Old Girl Who Spent Nearly 700 Days in Hospital Due to Heart Condition Passes Away
Valentina Garnetti, the toddler who spent most of her life in the hospital due to a heart condition, has passed away.
Valentina made headlines in April 2021 after being discharged from the CS Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan for the first time in her life. She had spent every day there since her birth in May 2021 due to a hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Over a period of about 700 days, Valentina underwent multiple surgeries, including 4 open-heart surgeries, and was kept alive artificially for 14 days.
“It’s really hard because especially with COVID-19, no one was allowed to come to the hospital, so we just had to celebrate Christmas among ourselves,” Francesca said.
But on March 24, 2021, Valentina was finally allowed to leave the hospital for the first time. She could finally experience life outside the hospital.
Since then, she has alternated between living her life with her family and friends as well as in the hospital.
In addition to all the surgeries she underwent, Valentina experienced complication after complication, strokes, seizures, and anaphylactic reactions.
Valentina never gave up
On July 16, Francesca made an urgent request for prayers. Valentina had stopped breathing and had no pulse.
As soon as she noticed her daughter wasn’t breathing, Francesca started resuscitation until medical emergency services arrived. She was taken to the hospital where life-saving maneuvers were performed for 90 minutes, but Valentina could not be revived.
Francesca found some comfort in knowing that her baby was now “healthy in heaven with a heart that is no longer broken and that she can run and walk and talk and eat and do all the things she loved to see others do.”
My heart breaks for this family. They have endured so much in such a short time.
My thoughts are with them during this extremely difficult time.
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