Breathtaking, the infant who was conceived twice. An African Giant Dr. Oluyinka O. Olutoye a Nigerian who is a Pediatric Surgeon and Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Fetal Center operated on this 23 weeks fetus and afterward, he returned the fetus back to the mother’s womb. A field that has worldwide recognition.
The average length of human gestation is 280 days, or 40 weeks, from the first day of the woman’s last menstrual period. The medical term for the due date is the estimated date of confinement (EDC). However, only about four percent of women actually give birth on their EDC.
A baby born prior to week 37 is considered premature, while a baby that still hasn’t been born by week 42 is said to be overdue. In many cases, labour will be induced in the case of an overdue baby.
On October 20, 2016, this Infant was expelled from the belly for a medical procedure, at that point returned according to Susan Scutti, CNN.
Margaret Boemer went for a routine ultrasound 16 weeks into her pregnancy with her third child. She quickly found out that things were far from routine.
“They saw something on the scan, and the doctor came in and told us that there was something seriously wrong with our baby and that she had a sacrococcygeal teratoma,” the Plano, Texas, mom said in an interview shared by Texas Children’s Hospital. “And it was very shocking and scary because we didn’t know what that long word meant or what diagnosis that would bring.”
Sacrococcygeal teratoma is a tumor that develops before birth and grows from a baby’s coccyx, the tailbone.
Boemer and her husband were devastated by the news, to say the least, they only learned of the baby’s sex with so much excitement two weeks prior. with the name, Lynlee suggested as her possible name.
The surgery started and in the middle of the procedure, Oluyinka Olutoye and his team lost the heartbeat which was restarted, she also needed a blood transfusion. According to Olutoye, “These are babies that are essentially dying, you have a child who’s already very sick, and the operation itself can make her sicker.”
The doctors eventually removed about 90% of the tumor and placed the fetus back in her mother’s womb, they had a challenge that required a complete seal in closing the uterus. This however proved challenging because the membrane had to be made watertight to enable the type of growth and stretching that will occur as Lynlee continued to grow as the pregnancy process continues.
The surgery lasted for approximately 5 hours, when asked Dr. Olutoye explained that watertight care was needed because the risk of the uterus rapturing was possible if maximum care was not taken.
Boemer was advised to stay in Houston, on bed rest, for the remaining part of her pregnancy. To doctors’ relief and surprise, Lynlee continued to grow and the heart pumping better as the tumor was gone.
As LynLee was monitored, “Her heart got much better, now that it didn’t have to work as hard pumping through this huge tumor,” Olutoye noted.
At about 36 weeks into the pregnancy, Lynlee was delivered through a c-session, she weighed 5 pounds and 5 ounces and did not look anything like the “small, little gelatinous baby” Olutoye had operated on weeks earlier, he said. He further stated that “Watching Lynlee come out crying and kicking was really very exciting to see,” he said. “Her whole leg during the surgery was barely the size of my finger. They grow so much over such a short period of time.” “You can say she’s seen the world twice,” he added.
“We’re going to get very close,” said Dr. Olutoye. According to Boemer, Lynlee is almost five months and hitting all her milestones, She giggles easily and enjoys being with her sisters, she added.
“LynLee didn’t have much of a chance,” Boemer said. “At 23 weeks, the tumor was shutting her heart down and causing her to go into cardiac failure, so it was a choice of allowing the tumor to take over her body or giving her a chance at life.
“It was an easy decision for us: We wanted to give her life.”
“It’s been kind of overwhelming, how much attention her story’s gotten, but we’re very thankful,” Boemer said. “I can tell you when we were told this very long name, we were scared and didn’t know what that was and had never heard of it. So I’m glad that it’s getting attention so that others who are diagnosed can know that they’re not alone.”
“It was very difficult,” Boemer said. But seeing her toddler smiling with her sisters, she added: “It was worth every pain.”
Who Is Dr. Oluyinka O. Olutoye MD, Ph.D?
Dr. Oluyinka O. Olutoye is the Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Fetal Center and a senior member of the fetal surgery team and a general pediatric surgeon. He received his medical degree from Nigeria; Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife to be precise, in 1988 and his Ph.D. in anatomy from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, in 1996.
He went ahead to complete his residency in general surgery at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, Virginia Commonwealth University, followed by his fellowship in pediatric surgery at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye is also a member of the International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society and is a Fellow of the Surgical Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics and American College of Surgeons, as well as a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons.
Dr. Oluyinka O. Olutoye has specialized clinical expertise in fetal and neonatal surgery, with a specific interest in congenital diaphragmatic hernia and complex wounds. Dr. Olutoye’s research interests include understanding the role of the fetal inflammatory response in scarless fetal wound healing, development of animal models of congenital anomalies, in utero correction of severe congenital malformations, and the study of endothelial-leukocyte and endothelial-tumor cell interactions with a goal to better understand the mechanisms of tumor metastasis. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery in Surgery and Pediatric Surgery.
“An Africa/African Giant is someone of African origin who has achieved enormously in a lifetime and is recognized for it. It also refers to someone of African origin with experts’ abilities”. — Africa Giant. Africa births great people both in Africa & in diaspora. #AfricaGiant is an expression of the Giant of talent & intelligence in Africans.
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