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“This congenital disorder is an abnormality of the tricuspid valve, which is the valve that separates the right upper and lower chambers of the heart,” explains Dr. This anomaly affects about one in 200,000 live births, and it accounts for less than 1% of congenital heart disease in the United The anomaly the doctors discovered is a rare congenital heart defect called Ebstein’s Anomaly. He followed Takeisha throughout the rest of her pregnancy, monitoring Jahliah, her growth, and the progress of her heart condition. John Cotton, a Pediatric Cardiologist and Professor of Pediatrics at UNC Chapel Hill. It was at this appointment that doctors noticed an anomaly in Jahliah’s heart in utero. In her seventh month of pregnancy, Takeisha went to the doctor for a routine ultrasound appointment at Wilmington Maternal-Fetal Medicine. He also coordinated with the UNC team in Chapel Hill to discuss the need for surgical intervention sooner rather than later. Loehr had been monitoring Jahliah for a couple of years, and he felt it was time to start her on medication. Loehr, MD, at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington. Takeisha brought her to Pediatric Cardiologist James P. She would be sitting at her computer desk or hanging out on the couch watching television, and she would faint.” She would start passing out for no reason. However, around December of 2019, it started to get worse. “Even her teachers at school would watch her for signs, making sure she didn’t do anything too strenuous that would make her heart race and pass out. “We’ve been monitoring her carefully throughout the day, every day,” says mom, Takeisha Harrison. At the age of nine, she started to have fainting spells.
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Throughout her entire life, Jahliah has had to deal with erratic heart rhythms, skipping of her heart, heart beating too fast, sometimes to the point of pain, and asthma. Much like her siblings, she is an ordinary kid except for one little thing, her congenital heart condition. Jahliah is the youngest girl of six children her brother, whom she is close to, is the youngest in the family, and none of them do anything without the others. Jahliah Parker Ebstein’s Anomaly: A Rare Disease Treated with World-class Care Here at Home Jahliah suffers from Ebstein’s Anomaly, a rare disease treated with world-class care at UNC Health. She is an ordinary kid except for one little thing, her congenital heart condition.
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At ten years old, Jahliah Parker likes to have fun with her siblings, play on her Nintendo Switch, and, along with thousands of other children across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, is ready to go back to in-person school.
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