Girl has steel bar behind sternum to reshape her sunken chest
With the fix, Mackenzie Kurko is breathing easier.
“Hey Mackenzie, how are you doing?” asked Dr. Steve Rothenberg during a recent checkup.
She told him she has no pain when she lifts her arms and no trouble breathing. Her mother, Jessica Ketterhagen, says she is pretty much 100%.
Just 3 months ago, Mackenzie was in Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children (RMHC) for surgery to fix what’s called pectus excavatum, funnel chest. Some ribs and her sternum grew abnormally.
Mackenzie told CBS4 Health Specialist Kathy Walsh her chest was so sunken her mother used to say,” You could fit a whole tennis ball in there.”
Colorado micro preemie born in 2019 is thriving in 2020: beat all the odds | kctv5.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kctv5.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Colorado micro preemie born in 2019 is thriving in 2020: ‘beat all the odds’
“Spunky, determined,” said Bobbie Winne, Ava’s mother.
Ava is 13 months old and nearly always smiling.
“She’s honestly like a little, regular baby now, just crawling around the house and eating Christmas cookies,” said Bobbie.
Bobbie is beyond grateful because Ava’s arrival was traumatic. CBS4 Health Specialist Kathy Walsh first met Bobbie in December 2019.
“She was born at 25 weeks,” an emotional Bobbie cried back then.
Ava was a foot long and weighed just over a pound, a micro preemie, when she entered the world.
“She’s just been such a fighter ever since she was born,” Bobbie explained as she wiped away tears.