For her family, 3-year-old Sadie Rutenberg is living proof that medical breakthroughs can change lives.

During the first year of her life, the little girl from Seattle depended on a breathing machine because of a serious heart defect.

“All expectations were… if we didn’t do something fairly quickly, she wasn’t going to survive,” her father, Lee’or Rutenberg, recalled.

Her condition was too complex for a minor procedure, while her fragile health made a heart transplant an unsuitable option.

According to Seattle Children’s Hospital, “Sadie was born with a complete atrioventricular canal defect and underwent two open-heart surgeries in her first few months of life.”

Then Dr. Jonathan Chen, chief of pediatric cardiovascular surgery and co-director of Seattle Children’s Heart Center, approached the family with an unusual possibility: taking part in a medical trial for a miniature mechanical heart valve manufactured by Abbott.

At the time, the tiny valve, roughly the size of a dime, had not yet received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In May, when Sadie was just eight months old, she underwent surgery to receive the mechanical valve. Seattle Children’s later confirmed that she was the first child in the trial to receive the device.

Her mother, Wendy Rutenberg, said the family felt they had little choice but to embrace the opportunity.

“Having the opportunity to try this valve was huge and so exciting,” she told KOMO-TV.

In March, the FDA finally approved the mechanical heart valve for babies. According to Seattle Children’s, it is “the smallest of its kind in the world.”

Today, Sadie still needs blood-thinning medication and will require replacement valves as she grows older. But the little girl is now active, thriving and enjoying life.

“Without the Sadies of the world,” Dr. Chen said, “we’d never have this valve on the shelf.”

Her journey not only changed her own future but also helped open the door to new possibilities for other babies with complex heart conditions.

Source: abcnews.com