Bereavement
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Rassah & Victoria
You guys have endured so much thru out these last few months. As a brother, a friend, and a father, I can not even come close to imagining the tribulations you guys have had to go thru. With our deepest condolences, We are all very sorry for your loss of Sophia, and know you guys loved her very much. For this reason, me and my wife has decided to start a fund to help you guys get back on your feet. You guys have been giving it your all these past few months. 24/7 hospital housing, emotional distress, unforeseen expenses, medical bills, hurt, tears, sleepless nights...etc.... Anyone with a child knows how much commitment it takes to raise a family. I hope thru this fund, we can offer you some hope in the future of recovery and rebuilding. Best wishes to Rassah, Victoria and baby Sophia! We are all here for you guys
Your Friends,
Cheng & Kim
Below is a Timeline Written & Credited by her father Rassah Yang~
" A daughter is a day brighter and a heart warmer." - Unknown
On April 14th at 9 am my wife and I checked into South Eastern Regional Hospital of Lumberton. After checking in come to find out my wife was already 9cm and the water has already broken. At 11:03am our daughter Sophia Hlis Ntsais Yang was born. I got to hold her and see her eyes open, instantly fell in love with her. I felt bad because after 2 hours of labor my wife was so exhausted and only got to hold our daughter for 5 mins. The nurse took Sophia to get her cleaned off and do the typical procedure of cleaning and checking her vitals.
I had to leave the hospital to go cook for Victoria so I left. By that time they were moving my wife into a different room and the doctor had came in to speak with us but I had stepped out. I received a phone call a little bit after 1pm. My wife sound very concern and said “that the doctors wanted to speak with us, so hurry back.“ I got back to the hospital and my wife said “there is something wrong with our daughter and she is scared.” The doctor came back and spoke to us briefly about how babies are born with a heart murmur but it usually goes away and it might be that she has a heart murmur but he wants to further look into it. So he stepped back out to head back to check on Sophia.
He came back an hour later to let us know that Sophia was born with a congenital heart defect. The doctor said he couldn’t do much for Sophia so he had called Duke University’s Pediatric Cardiologist team to see if they can help. Duke Life Flight team came, got Sophia and flew her to Duke University Hospital. The drive from Lumberton to Durham is a little over 2hrs.I wasn’t able to go with the Flight team so I had to drive. I kissed my wife and told her not to worry once I get there I will call her to make sure my daughter will be ok when she gets to Duke.
Once I got to the hospital they already had Sophia situated and ready for me to see her. The doctor that was in her fellowship pulled me aside to talk to me about Sophia’s condition. I couldn’t grasp the things she said one bit but she said that Sophia is diagnosed with Tricuspid Atresia, Single ventricle, Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection. They further did testing to find out that Sophia’s anatomy was unique. The doctor said that it is very fatal especially for newborns that don’t get it treated. The nurses were explaining that there was nothing that my wife did or ate wrong, it naturally occurs sometimes.
2 weeks before her first surgery she was breathing on her own but when she cries or was agitated her oxygen level was dipping down. Normal babies are typically at 95-100% oxygen level but Sophia was at 70- low 80’s oxygen level. When she has her dips she dips down to low 50’s but will gradually come back to her usual 70-low 80’s. The night before her surgery she dipped down to the low 20’s and wasn’t coming back up like her normal self. So they placed her on the oxygen tank to keep her at a steady level. They did sonographs and eco’s to see what is going on with Sophia, come to find out there was not enough oxygenated blood being sent to her lungs to be given to her little body.
They performed the first surgery on Sophia on April 30th at 6am in the morning. They finished a little after 1pm. The surgeon placed a shunt in Sophia’s heart to let the flow of the blood be corrected but within an hour or two later there was too much blood flowing into her lungs, she fell into cardiac arrest. The nursing staff and the surgeon was bed side to assist her and got her back to normal by putting her onto the bypass machine (which acts like her lungs and heart). They clamped her shunt to make the radius smaller which it worked.
On May 5th the doctors felt that she was ready to come off the bypass machine so they took her off. The doctors was excited because she was progressing so well and soon to go to step down but 12 days after she came off of the bypass machine, on May 17th she fell back into her second cardiac arrest in addition to a stroke. The doctors wasn’t sure what came first the stage 4 stroke or the cardiac arrest. Her progression gotten worse but we had hope that she will overcome this. The doctors said that they are doing everything they can but her condition isn’t getting better but on May 26th Sophia left us all. On May 29th we laid our daughter to rest.
Sophia was a fighter all the way through! We are proud and blessed to have had the chance to be her parents. We are all torn but she left us with a lesson and that lesson was to love all and keep faith. Sophia was born on a Sunday with beautiful weather. The day that she left us it was also on a Sunday with beautiful weather. She was 5 weeks and 5 days. I used to play on a football team and my jersey number is 55. Today after we laid Sophia to rest we went to have brunch with the family. I picked my fortune cookie out of the bunch and my fortune read “You will be spending time outdoors, in the mountains, near water.” I told Sophia that when her and mommy gets out I will take her out to fish with me. Call it whatever it may be but I know our little angel is watching us and giving us hints.
- R.Yang
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