The couple knew the dangers of in-womb surgery but proceeded with hope for their little one. File photo / iStock.
The couple knew the dangers of in-womb surgery but proceeded with hope for their little one. File photo / iStock.
A baby's life was saved by a pioneering operation carried out when she was still in her mother's womb.
Michelle Cannon had been advised to have an abortion after receiving the devastating news that her unborn daughter had a rare and usually deadly condition.
Fluid was building up in the baby's chest and crushing her lungs, but at 22 weeks she was too premature to be delivered.
Yet her 31-year-old mother refused to abandon hope, and after hours of online research came across "in-womb surgery" - a procedure which has been carried out only a few times in the world.
"There was no way we were going to give up on her," said Miss Cannon, who lives in Doncaster with her partner Gareth Dawson, 24. 'I burst into tears when I was told the news. But one thing was for certain, we were adamant we were going to keep this baby."
The couple approached doctors at the nearby Sheffield Teaching Hospitals maternity unit to ask if they would carry out the risky operation - which can potentially cause a miscarriage or trigger a premature labour.
Consultant obstetrician Mr Roobin Jokhi had never performed the procedure, but agreed it could be the only chance of saving the baby - who had already been named Faith.
Miss Cannon underwent the half-hour operation last autumn, staying awake while it was carried out under local anaesthetic.
It involved inserting a 50cm needle through her stomach to her uterus, where a tiny tube was placed in Faith's chest. This then drained the fluid into her mother's amniotic sac in the womb.
Figure: schematic illustration of the FETO produce: through a small cut in the mother's tummy, a small camera is introduced into the mouth of the unborn baby and a balloon is delivered in the trachea. Photo / Wales News Service
Faith was also given an injection to reduce her movement and limit any pain. After a few weeks the fluid had receded and her lungs inflated - meaning they could work properly when she was born. She then arrived slightly early at 38 weeks after her mother was induced, weighing 8lb 4oz.
Although the baby remained in hospital for a week to monitor the function of her lungs, five months on she is healthy and developing well.
Miss Cannon - who also has two daughters from a previous marriage, Alyssia, eight and Courtney, six - said: "There was no way I was going to have a termination. When doctors told us there was a chance they could save her life while still in the womb, it was a scary thought.
"But we knew that was her only hope of survival. We knew it was an extremely risky procedure because the operation might have caused premature labour and that the baby was too young to survive at 22 weeks."
She added that the operation was a "terrifying" prospect - but they knew that they had no choice and were delighted when it was declared a success.
"When she is older we will tell her all about her miracle operation while she was still in mummy's womb," said Miss Cannon.
"We're just so happy and grateful to have her in our lives."
Faith's condition - a form of swelling known as hydrops - occurs in around one in 15,000 pregnancies. Only about a third of babies survive, with many others aborted.
Symptoms include an unknown fluid building up in the chest and stomach cavity - compressing the delicate organs - and it is possibly caused by a virus or a defect in the heart and lungs.
Mr Jokhi, who is based at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals' Jessop Wing, said the operation that saved Faith's life carries the danger of severe complications.
"The risks of such a procedure include inadvertent damage to other organs," he explained.
"But over time the fluid in Faith's chest receded, as did the fluid in her abdominal cavity and the lungs slowly re-inflated, giving her a chance to have normal functioning lungs at birth."
