KATE NEWTON
Stacey Kara plays like any other two-year-old but when she lifts up her purple top it is clear she has been through more than your average toddler.
The scar that runs down her chest is a sign of the open heart surgery she had in February last year and her
Flaxmere family are waiting to hear if she has to go back for more.
Stacey's mother, Jo Andrew, didn't know there was a problem with her unborn baby until her labour suddenly stopped. An ECG scan revealed Stacey had "tetralogy of fallot", which means four defects of the heart, and two days after she was born she was flown to Greenlane Hospital in Auckland for tests.
"I kept asking, Why? What did I do wrong?" Jo said. "It's not nice to see your child coming out of a major operation and go into intensive care."
As well as the emotional cost of having a "heart baby" it has been financially draining, Jo said.
There was no family income when Jo, her partner and the other two children had to travel to Auckland to be with Stacey.
Jo has since had another baby but she to put up with weeks of scans and tests.
Despite Stacey looking healthy the family have to wait to hear if she needs more surgery.
Jo had been hoping for the all clear after Stacey's operation but a patch put over part of her heart has come away and doctors won't know until November whether it needs to be fixed.
"At the moment you wouldn't even know she has got a heart condition. She's always jumping off things," Jo said.
Not knowing the cause of Stacey's condition is something Jo wonders about. "I guess it's just one of those things," she said.