CHARLOTTE — A year ago, Emily Ferrer wasn’t sure what the future would look like for her youngest daughter.
“There was a lot of, just, the unknowns,” she told Channel 9’s Miana Massey.
Halfway through her pregnancy, she learned her daughter, Faith, would be born with a rare defect that blocks blood flow from the heart to the lungs.
When she was born, she spent her first two and a half months in the hospital, underwent five heart catheterization procedures and required extensive home care.
“That was really stressful, just all the beeps in the hospital,” her mother said.
But today, the little girl once surrounded by machines is smiling surrounded by family.
“Physically, she’s doing all the things that a normal healthy baby would do,” Ferrer said. “You would never know that she’s been through all this journey.”
Faith still receives nutrition through a feeding tube and sees specialists regularly. While her journey isn’t over, her cardiologist, Dr. Andrew Schwartz, says every step forward is a huge milestone.
“There is still this risk, and she’s still very tenuous even though she’s smiling and growing and doing fantastic,” Schwartz said.
She’ll likely need open heart surgery in the future, but for her mother, it’s the little moments many parents take for granted that now mean everything.
“Nothing is given,” Schwartz said. “Everything is earned, and I don’t really take that for granted how much of a village it takes for our babies to thrive.”
For Faith, her village is working together to help her live up to her name.