Brooklyn mother receives lifesaving procedure while pregnant

Claire Sprouse told News 12 she found out she needed open heart surgery while pregnant. Sprouse says she was diagnosed with a heart condition as a teen, and it never prevented her from living a normal life.

News 12 Staff

Dec 24, 2022, 10:55 PM

Updated 729 days ago

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A Brooklyn mother is spending Christmas with her newborn baby after a team of doctors performed a lifesaving heart procedure.
Claire Sprouse told News 12 she found out she needed open heart surgery while five months pregnant. Sprouse says she was diagnosed with a heart condition as a teen, and it never prevented her from living a normal life.
"It was pretty much the worst day of my life," said Sprouse. "It was really hard, we had been dreaming of growing our family and have a little baby and obviously wanted to make the choice that was the healthiest and the safest."
Doctors told her the surgery she needed would have been too risky for the baby and recommended she end her pregnancy. Sprouse turned to a team of doctors at NYU Langone who performed a non-invasive surgery that saved her life and her baby's.
"Even in the absence of pregnancy, her 2-year mortality was about 50 percent," said NYU Langone Dr. Matthew Williams. "Now with the extra stress of pregnancy and delivery, the risk to her life was very high."
Dr. Williams and his colleagues performed the procedure in about an hour and a half back in May.
"My heart, physically and spiritually felt so much better too, I felt whole for the first time in a while," added Sprouse.
On Oct. 3, Sprouse gave birth to baby Milo was without any incidents.