The child was born in 2019 but she spent her infancy in the hospital for two years before going home for the first time in 2021.
Valentina Garnetti, a three-year-old child who made headlines for being hospitalized for over 700 days due to a heart abnormality, has died.
Her mother Francesca announced the news on Facebook by writing, "This is the hardest post I’ve ever had to make. My life will never be the same. Valentina took her last breath this morning in my mom’s arms." Several hours earlier, Francesca stated that her daughter was not breathing and had no pulse and she asked for prayers, reports Fox 13 News.
She further said in her post, "My baby fought so hard for so long and her body was just tired. The world is a sadder place today. I’ve never felt a pain like this."
Valentina Garnetti first gained notoriety in 2021 for spending most of her toddler life inside a hospital due to a congenital heart defect. https://t.co/GpkMwVhPr9
— FOX 35 Orlando (@fox35orlando) July 17, 2022
"Valentina’s love was a different kind of love. She had the brightest sparkle in her eye and the biggest, most perfect smile. She truly loved everyone she met. I hope she knows how much she was loved back. I loved Valentina more than anything in the universe and her two sisters did too."
She was born on May 1, 2019, with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital cardiac abnormality. In March 2021, she was finally able to return home for the first time in her life. She made headlines last year for spending almost two years in hospital. She had been in and out of the hospital after she was discharged last year in March and was spending time with friends and family.
According to the National Library of Medicine, hypoplastic left heart syndrome is fatal and causes about 25% to 40% of all neonatal cardiac mortality. Francesa told Fox Television last year, "She was missing a left chamber of her heart. But luckily for us, I was able to hold her for an hour, which is a really long time, before she needed any intervention and then they [hospital staff] took her away."
Valentina had six surgeries while in the hospital, four of them were open-heart surgery. Her mother said, "She has just had complication after complication after complication. So everything that could go wrong, went wrong in Valentina’s case." Each year, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1,025 newborns in the United States are born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
Francesa added last year, "She’s a fighter. So everything that she went through has brought us to this point."
A GoFundMe campaign has been established to assist with funeral expenses.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4663985/
Cover Image Source: GoFundMe/Funeral Expenses for Valentina
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