Luella & Red Pandas
When Luella was eight years old, she got a trampoline. This was an exciting new addition to the backyard, but after a day of jumping, she developed chest pain.
“It became persistent,” Luella’s mom, Samantha, recalls. “We took her to a pediatrician, who discovered a heart murmur, and after that, everything happened so fast.”
Additional tests revealed that Luella had a rare congenital heart defect known as partial anomalous pulmonary venous return with atrial septal defect (PAPVR/ASD). This occurs when pulmonary veins connect to the right atrium of the heart, rather than the left (PAPRV), and there is a hole between these two chambers (ASD).
Samantha feared that her daughter would need open heart surgery but was relieved when she learned that Luciana da Fonseca da Silva, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Heart Institute at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, would be able to access Luella’s heart through the side of her chest as part of a procedure known as an axillary thoracotomy.
In July 2024, just two months after jumping on the trampoline, Luella had surgery at UPMC Children’s. Cherry, Luella’s favorite of the 11 stuffed red pandas she brought to the hospital, was by her side.
“Everyone provided us with a great experience during what was a really tough time,” Samantha says. “And thanks to them, my eight-year-old is back to living a normal life. It’s amazing.”
Luella's treatment and results may not be representative of all similar cases.