Baby, parents, find special meaning in World Heart Day

The beat goes on – thankfully – for young Nani Luna after surgeons at Seattle Children’s Hospital successfully completed a lengthy procedure on the two-month-old baby’s aortic valve Sept. 29.

Their timing couldn’t have been better.

It was World Heart Day, which each year draws attention to heart illness and its range of associated issues.

On that day doctors closed baby Nani’s chest, about 48 hours after she had undergone the Ross Procedure to replace her aortic valve, the main outflow valve between the heart and the body.

Other surgeries loom ahead for Nani, though each is anticipated to be less complex than the Ross Procedure, says her mom, Nakiya Luna.

“We were told Nani will have to go through three more surgeries in her lifetime,” she told the Weekly News, “but that number could change depending on how her body reacts to her new heart valve.”

Nani was born the afternoon of Aug. 1 at Skagit Valley Hospital, weighing 6 lbs.,11 oz. and measuring 19 inches in the length, the first child of La Conner alumni Nakiya and Budda Luna.

It was shortly after her birth that hospital staff discovered something amiss.

“They heard a murmur in her heart when they were doing vital checks when she was born,” said Nakiya Luna. “So, they kept a close eye on her through the night.”

The next morning Nani underwent an echocardiogram, which checks how well the heart’s chambers and valves pump blood and it was determined she suffered from severe aortic stenosis.

“In other words,” her mom said, “they saw that her aortic valve was small and deformed.”

Nani was immediately transferred to Children’s Hospital.

“We were there from Aug. 2-5 and during that stay they did a balloon catheter to stretch her aortic valve so they could postpone the Ross Procedure,” Nakiya Luna said. “She got the Ross Procedure done on Sept. 27 and they closed her chest on Sept. 29.”

The Lunas have been advised that Nani’s prognosis is very good.

“The doctors told us that their goal is to allow her to run, play and live as normal of a life as possible while growing up,” said Nakiya Luna, who like her husband, was a standout athlete in high school and college.

The couple has further been bolstered by how the local community has rallied around them and Nani. Several thousand dollars have been raised to help with expenses incurred since Nani’s birth.

“The community support,” said Nakiya Luna, who works at the Swinomish Fitness Center, “has been completely amazing.

“We couldn’t be more thankful,” she stressed, “that so many people came together to help us through this hard time. We are very blessed.”