Born with heart chambers, abdominal organs on opposite sides

When Nur Faathimah Assyifa' turned two, she had surgery that involved switching the positions of two major arteries

- Amrita Kaur

During a pregnancy scan at 22 weeks, Madam Nur Syahidah Watib learnt that her baby had a rare medical condition.

Her daughter's upper heart chambers and abdominal organs, such as her stomach and liver, were formed on the opposite side of where they should have been.

In addition, she had a large hole in the wall between the heart's lower chambers and was missing a pulmonary artery - essential for carrying blood from the heart to the lungs for oxygenation.

For Madam Syahidah, 37, and her husband Muhammad Nazeeh Mohamad, 40, the diagnosis was overwhelming.

"When we first found out about her condition, we were devastated. I even considered terminating the pregnancy because I couldn't bear to put her through so many operations after birth, but I just couldn't do it. We knew we had to stay strong for our baby, and we prayed every day for strength and guidance," says Madam Syahidah.

A multidisciplinary team of specialists at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS) and the National University Hospital's (NUH) National University Centre for Women and Children joined forces to address the complex case of congenital heart disease.

When Nur Faathimah Assyifa' was born at NUH in 2020, weighing 2.8kg, she had dangerously low oxygen levels, resulting in her body turning blue.

At just one month old, she underwent a shunt procedure to improve blood flow to her lungs.

Associate Professor Laszlo Kiraly, head and senior consultant at NUHCS department of cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery, says: "The shunt is a plastic tube that steals some blood flow from the body and drives it back to the lungs to temporarily improve the oxygenation."

Shortly after the surgery, however, she suffered a cardiac arrest.

A scan then revealed that her aorta was compressing her windpipe, which led to breathing difficulties.