When Chad and Keri McCartney claim their infant daughter, Macie Hope, was born twice, they aren’t referring to religion.
Around six months into Keri McCartney’s pregnancy, physicians at Texas Children’s Hospital removed the tiny fetus from Keri’s womb to remove a malignancy that would have killed Macie before she was born.
On May 3, the McCartneys brought their surgically restored — and wonderfully healthy — baby daughter into the world for the second time.
On Friday, the joyful pair spoke exclusively with TODAY’s Ann Curry from the hospital, where they were joined by Dr. Darrell Cass, the fetal surgeon who led the team that successfully executed a procedure that has only been done less than 20 times around the world. “We were extremely, very fortunate,” Macie said of his situation. “It turned out to be absolutely amazing.”
The McCartneys’ story started in Keri’s 23rd week of pregnancy when the couple accompanied their entire family to their obstetrician’s office to find out the gender of the baby Keri was carrying.
Chad McCartney told Curry, “We had our entire family.” “Our four children had packed into the vehicle, and we were on our way to our routine ultrasound to find out what the baby’s gender would be. There was a lot of enthusiasm because that was the main topic of discussion on the trip up.”
A life-threatening revelation
Everyone entered the ultrasound room with bated breath, eager to see the fetus’ appearance on the screen. “The ultrasound tech got a very concerned look on her face all of a sudden,” Chad recalled. “She hustled our children out of the room and then informed us that our infant had a huge lump.”
The ultrasound imaging showed what appeared to be a balloon growing out of Macie’s tailbone, but it was filled with blood vessels and was the same size as the fetus. The growth wasn’t malignant, yet it was nonetheless fatal.
“This tumor was enormous,” Cass explained. “It was the size of a grapefruit,” says the narrator.
In all of her years of practice, the obstetrician for the McCartneys had never seen anything like it. She found after some study that Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, which is six hours distant from the family’s Laredo home, was one of just three hospitals in the world that specialized in such illnesses.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” “It’s probably one out of every 40,000 babies,” Cass explained. “These tumors can grow and stay small for a long period, and they don’t have a big impact on the fetus.” This tumor developed extraordinarily quickly in Macie’s case… and it was practically robbing her body of the blood it required to flourish. If nothing had been done, she would have perished.”
An apt moniker
Keri and Chad returned home with the grim prognosis and chose to name their baby immediately away.
Chad McCartney, fighting back tears as he narrated the story, said, “We both made the choice that we have a name for her, because we had been told that there was less than a 10% chance that she was going to make it.” “We wanted to give her a name that was appropriate, so we called her Macie Hope — because that’s all we had.”
They traveled to Houston for the surgery, which Cass described as “tricky” with the understatement of a surgeon.
“Mrs. McCartney had to be put under a very, very deep anesthesia, almost seven times deeper than the normal procedure,” he explained. “It’s vital for the uterus to be very, extremely relaxed.”
Keri’s abdomen was opened and her uterus was transported completely outside her body by him and two other surgeons. He stated, “We had to find a safe spot of the uterus to open so we wouldn’t damage the placenta.”
When doctors discovered one, they relaxed the womb and retrieved around 80% of Macie Hope’s body, which weighed less than a quarter of a pound, leaving only the head and upper body in the womb. Due to the risk of the fetus going into cardiac arrest if she was exposed to the air, the doctors worked rapidly to remove the tumor and return Macie to the safety of the womb.
It took roughly 20 minutes to complete that phase of the four-hour surgery. To prevent the amniotic fluid from leaking out, the doctors had to properly shut the uterus such that it was waterproof.
“Then we had to pray the pregnancy would last,” Cass continued.
Resurrected
That wish was likewise granted. “The pregnancy lasted another 10 weeks, which allowed Macie to heal from this tumor that had been killing her,” Cass said, “which allowed Macie to recover from this tumor that had been killing her.”
Macie Hope was born again on May 3, this time to stay. Since then, she and her mother have remained at Texas Medical Center, recovering from the miraculous surgery. Macie’s backside still has a huge scar, which physicians say can be healed as she grows older.
Keri and Chad McCartney were overjoyed that they would be able to take their miracle baby home on Saturday.
Keri McCartney told Curry, “We’re doing fantastic.” “I’m overjoyed because we’ll be departing tomorrow.”
Macie Hope was cradled in her arms. “Obviously she is entirely at peace and content with it all,” her mother said of the baby, who has a thick head of hair.