Harlie Rene Stevens
In early 2005, Lana Stevens and her husband Kevin had received some wonderful news. She was pregnant with their first child. During Lana’s healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy, life was simple and exciting.
On October 10, 2005, Lana delivered a beautiful baby girl, Harlie Rene, weighing six pounds five ounces and 19½ inches long. She was the picture of health. Within 24 hours, doctors discovered a heart defect in Harlie called Tetralogy of Fallot. Her pulmonary valve, which brings oxygenated blood to her lungs, had not fully grown. Six hours later, Harlie was sent to Children’s Hospital’s NICU. “It was the scariest thing we had ever experienced,” Lana said.
Harlie had open heart surgery when she was just ten days old, placing a shunt in her heart until it grows large enough for corrective surgery. She will have the first of those surgeries in the next year, replacing her valve with a healthy donor valve. “I will now be a tissue recipient’s mother. What an honor this is.
“Organ donation is so important for the many lives that it saves; however, I think a lot of times we simply overlook the impact that tissue donation has on our everyday lives. Obviously is has had a huge impact on me, my husband, our daughter, and the rest of our family and friends.”
Life works in the strangest ways. When Lana started working at LOPA, she had no idea what her future held in store. “I’m so proud not only to be a part of this organization but now also a part of a future tissue recipient’s family.”
