Danielle's Story:
"From the Heart, for the Heart"
In Loving Memory:
It was Super Bowl Sunday, January 26, 2986; Danielle Lauren Campbell was considerately waiting for the game to be over-to the appreciation of her doctor-before making her appearance. Danielle was a beautiful 6lb. 1oz. baby girl with a full head of black hair and dark eyes. Danielle was tested, as all newborns are, following
standard medical procedures and was declared perfectly healthy. Two days later on January 28, 1986, the day of the Space Shuttle disaster, Danielle and I were discharged from the hospital. Danielle's only medical issue was a common condition called jaundice which had to be checked first thing each morning at the local hospital. Every day for seven days Danielle was examined and tested for jaundice by nurses and sent home with no apparent problems or concern. Those seven days were heavenly. Mike, Danielle's father, was working at home while Danielle and I easily got into a calm and peaceful routine that Mike could experience with us. Monday morning, the eighth day of Danielle's life, Mike had a meeting in Pittsburgh. This was the very first day Danielle and I were totally alone together in the house. I felt a desire and need to just sit quietly holding, looking, and talking quietly to her. It became obvious while holding her that her breathing was becoming labored. After several calls to the pediatrician, I bundled Danielle in her fluffy white snow suit, with only her beautiful face and black hair showing, as she stared into my eyes. I rushed to the pediatrician's office for her to be examined. In one horrific moment, what was my happiest experience with my precious little girl, turned into a nightmare. The Pediatrician looked at me and said, "This baby has a heart murmur." Before I could even respond there was a flurry of activity in the room with other nurses and doctors. I was immediately ushered into another room and told that Danielle had to be Life-Flighted to the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital and I could not accompany her. After calling Danielle's father, who was already in Pittsburgh, I called my father who drove me to meet Mike at Pittsburgh Children's Hospital. We sat for hours waiting, waiting, and waiting. I prayed that she would be taken care of and would appear healthy and normal after whatever procedures had to be done. Then a sense of concern and worry came over me, would we have insurance enough to take care of all the medical costs and requirements during her lifetime? Could we afford to give her all the medical help she would need? After what seemed like an eternity, Mike and I were led into a room and the doctor proceeded to tell us, "Danielle was born with a HYPOPLASTIC LEFT HEART SYNDROME." They explained that it was a complex and rare heart defect in which the left side of the heart is critically underdeveloped. Further they had no idea what causes this condition to occur. And then the most painful words any parent could ever hear: "We 're so sorry but there are no known procedures available to correct this condition, there isn't anything we can do to keep her alive." Mike and I were led to the ICU nursery where we spent private time holding our precious, Danielle Lauren. In the days that followed, the shock and disbelief was numbing. We were living in a fog, nothing seemed real. While slowly coming out of the shock of losing our daughter, Mike and I, talked about starting a foundation someday in memory of Danielle Lauren to help support research for HYPOPLASTIC LEFT HEART SYNDROME, as well as, helping the families of newborns with congenital heart defects. Today it brings us great pleasure to know that, unlike 1986, there are medical procedures available to help newborns with HYPOPLASTIC LEFT HEART SYNDROME. We are proud and privileged to announce that Mike and I along with our daughter, Erin N. Campbell-Smith, born one year after Danielle Lauren, and our son, Sean M. Michael Campbell, born two years after Danielle Laurent, have formed the DANIELLE LAUREN CAMPBELL FOUNDATION FUND, a family sponsored charitable fund of the PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION.
-Diane Jurik Campbell
