Hometown: Bluffton, OH
Age on Race Day: 12
Diagnosis: Prematurity
Savannah was born six weeks early and needed to be immediately transferred to a hospital that could support her underdeveloped lungs. Doctors at her birth hospital hoped to transport her by helicopter, but the weather, windy and rainy, made flying unsafe. Instead, Savannah had to make the nearly two-hour trip by ambulance to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Upon arrival, Savannah was brought to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where she was put on an ECMO machine, a life-support treatment that acts as an artificial heart and lungs for patients whose own need to rest and heal. She spent several days on ECMO, giving her lungs crucial time to further develop.
“Every day, the doctors would come in and share how she was doing, goals they had for her and what was next,” recalls Savannah’s mom, Betsi. ““Each day brought continued glimmers of hope that she was getting better.”
As Savannah’s stay in the NICU continued, her care team saw steady improvements. Her parents were able to participate in her care, including bathing, feeding, and diaper changes, and Savannah grew stronger.
After about two and a half weeks, Savannah was moved to a step-down unit with a nose cannula. Her care team, committed to sending her home with fully independent lung function, determined she could be transferred back to her birth hospital for further monitoring before she was able to go home.
Finally, nearly one month after she was born, Savannah was breathing all on her own and was fully discharged. Today she is a healthy 11-year-old with no lasting effects of her time in the NICU except one small scar on her neck.
