Infant with half a heart seen as a miracle

Princess Ru’ Emi Foster is seen as a living miracle by her family since she was born months ago with only half a heart. 

Her family says they love her with their whole hearts, even though she only has half a heart.

She was born prematurely at 36 weeks on Dec. 12 with a congenital birth defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. 

Keona Foster, her mother, is a Philadelphia native and said the experience has been incredibly scary. 

“I had to give Princess Ru’ around 12 medicines, but I’ve gotten her down to only four,” Foster said. “I couldn’t hold her at the beginning and I’m able to now. She’s a strong little cookie and it’s amazing how well she’s doing through all this. I’m very blessed and I thank God every day for her.” 

At just two days old, Princess Ru’ needed open heart surgery, where the doctors and surgeons performed two different major operations. 

The first involved them putting a stint in her heart to open up an artery that was too small for the blood to flow to the rest of her body. The second involved them reconstructing the right side of her heart to make it function. 

“She’ll have two more surgeries, one at four months old and another when she is a year old,” Foster said. “It’ll be a further reconstruction of the right side of her heart along with separating oxygenated blood from the non-oxygenated blood. So far, by the grace of God and a wonderful team at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, she is doing well.” 

Foster said she and her daughter will hopefully be coming home from Le Bonheur within the next week. 

“We’ve been in Memphis, Tennessee, ever since I gave birth to her, but we’re almost ready to come home to Philadelphia,” Foster said. “Princess is doing so great and she is very blessed.” 

Lisa Marshall, the baby’s grandmother, works at Neshoba General in patient financial services and said she wanted to give special thanks to all the doctors, nurses, and surgeons at Le Bonheur. 

“Everyone at the hospital has been so nice, and I also wanted to give special thanks to my sisters, Georgia, Bernita, and Kissy,” Marshall said. “They’ve all been so supportive through this for us and for Princess Ru’.”