Hats off to thee
Bridget Cisneros
For a 2-year-old, Bridget Cisneros is very good at singing the “Minnesota Rouser.”
And though she may not have made the connection yet, she has excellent reasons to cheer for the University of Minnesota. Both her parents work at the University. Her mother, Maureen Ramirez, is a current member of the Board of Regents. Her father, Steve Cisneros, is director of the Bridge to Academic Excellence program and a Ph.D. student.
And – best of all – the University played a huge role in helping Bridget find the health she needs not only to sing, but to dance, poke her big sister, and play.
When she was born, Bridget seemed healthy. But at her four-month checkup, her pediatrician discovered a heart murmur. Tests revealed a fairly large atrial septal defect – a hole between the upper two chambers of her heart.
The cardiologist to whom Bridget’s parents were first referred told them such defects are generally treated with one of two options: plugging the hole with a device implanted via catheter, or open-heart surgery.
“He said she was not a good candidate for the device because she was so little,” Ramirez says. “For the size of the hole and the size of her body, getting a device in would be a traumatic thing.”
A better option
The prospect of open-heart surgery sent Ramirez in search of a second opinion. The University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital was the obvious choice for this family.
Here John Bass, M.D., director of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, discovered two other abnormalities in Bridget's heart, making her situation more complex.
But Bass also had an ace up his sleeve: the Upper Midwest’s only pediatric hybrid catheterization lab. The lab accommodates both implant procedures and open-heart surgery – so in cases like Bridget’s, doctors can try to implant a device but quickly switch over to open-heart surgery if needed.
“He said they would try the device,” Ramirez says. “We thought, that’s more optimistic.”
'Everybody was happy’
So just after Bridget’s first birthday, her parents took her to the University’s children's hospital for either a relatively minor procedure or major surgery – they wouldn't know which until it was over.
About an hour after Bridget went into surgery, Cisneros’s phone rang. It was Bass. “He told me, The device is in and it’s working. We’re happy with it and we are coming out,” Cisneros recalls.
Soon Bass “came out with this huge grin on his face and said, We did it,” Ramirez says. “He was very happy with it. Everybody was happy.”
A year later, as the family celebrates Bridget’s second birthday – the theme, of course, is hearts – Ramirez can’t say enough about the difference the University has made in her daughter’s life.
“I don’t think she would have gotten this [device] anyplace else,” Ramirez says. “It’s absolutely extraordinary.”
