I Didn't Know How Long My Daughter Had To Live

One mother opens up about the unimaginable pain of caring for a child with heart defects.

- Poon Li-Wei

“I think one of the biggest fears a mother could ever face is knowing, inherently, that there is something very wrong with your child – only to have everyone else around you disprove it. For me, it happened one unassuming and tiring night after work when I discovered a dark shadow colouring my one-month-old daughter, Xin Yun’s, T-zone.

THE DISCOVERY

But nobody at home could corroborate what I’d seen, including my mother-in-law, who was with her at all times of the day. So, I chalked it down to exhaustion playing tricks on my vision. It was only when my husband finally affirmed that he’d seen what I did that we rushed her to a 24-hour clinic. Unfortunately, the doctor couldn’t ascertain what was wrong and referred us to a specialist at Gleneagles hospital. The next day, it was a worrying two-hour observation before the specialist confirmed my worst fear: Xin Yun had heart defects. Not only were there holes, but her heart didn’t have a channel to pump oxygenated blood out. On paper, she shouldn’t have survived, but somehow, a vein had grown where typically there wouldn’t be one – a lifeline. The symptoms were only presenting themselves now because as she grew, the vein didn’t grow with her.

HITTING A ROADBLOCK