Born Twice

A baby girl from Texas has been "born" twice after she was taken out of her mother’s womb for a 20-minute life-saving surgery.

21:25 25 October 2016

At 16 weeks pregnant, Margaret Hawkins Boemer was told that her unborn child had a tumour on her spine. The mass, known as sacrococcygeal teratoma, raises the risk of fatal heart failure as it diverts blood from the foetus.

 

Baby Lynlee was taken out of the womb weighing just 1lb 3oz for a procedure to remove the tumour. She was given a 50per cent chance of survival.

 

Mrs Boemer said: "At 23 weeks, the tumour was shutting her heart down and causing her to go into cardiac failure, so it was a choice of allowing the tumour to take over her body or giving her a chance at life.

 

"It was an easy decision for us: We wanted to give her life."

 

The procedure required a long incision due to the massive size of the tumour. Doctor Darrell Cass of Texas Children’s Fetal Centre said that the surgery left the baby “hanging out in the air.”

 

Lynlee’s heart virtually stopped during the procedure but a heart specialist kept her alive while most of the tumour was removed. She was then placed back in her mother’s womb.

 

Mrs Boemer was placed on bedrest for 12 weeks after the procedure. Lynlee was born via Caesarean section on 6 June at almost full term. She underwent another operation when she was eight days old to remove the rest of the tumour from her tailbone.