CINCINNATI — Madi Smith was just 17 when she found out she might only have days left to live.
"I felt like I was having contractions," she said. "Extreme, like sharp pain within my lower belly."
At the time, Smith was only four or five months pregnant. Doctors at a Springfield hospital told her she’d need an emergency cesarean section.
"I woke up laying on the table and I said, 'Is my baby okay?'" Smith said. "Where's my baby? What happened?"
Smith was actually experiencing heart failure. Eventually, doctors told her she might only have a few days left.
"You go from being a normal teenage girl to going through, 'Oh my gosh, I am a teen mom. I have a baby that's in the NICU and I possibly might die. Who's gonna take care of my baby?'" she said.
She was sent to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center while her baby remained in the NICU.
"When she came to us, she was in shock and she was dying," said Dr. Louis B. Louis, division chief of cardiac surgery at UC Health. "Her heart had been programmed to fail."
Louis explained Smith has genetic cardiomyopathy, a genetic problem with the heart.
"Madi had been sick for a while, but it’s hard to recognize who’s otherwise young and healthy is so sick," he said. "It's hard to recognize that someone's actually dying of heart failure."
Smith said there might have been signs she missed. She said she used to take long naps during the day. When she had anxiety attacks, she would pass out, struggling to breathe.
"I just thought it was normal," she said.
While at UCMC, Smith almost died three separate times.
"I coded," she said.
Louis and Smith’s team put her on a type of life support and in an artificial heart.
"Madi has had a lot of surgery for someone so young," Louis said. "There's only two reasons why we take knife to skin. One is to extend life — make you live longer. Two is to alleviate symptoms and, in Madi’s case, I think we're accomplishing both of those things.
“She's faced it with an enormous amount of courage and poise and really a good sense of humor."
After three months, Smith was able to return home this summer.
"I remember trying to sit up to go walk in the hallway," Smith said. "I didn't want to do it. I had pictures of my daughter on the wall in front of me that I looked at every day. I said 'That's the girl I need to get up for.'"
She might need a heart transplant at some point, but for now, she’s able to return to a normal life with her husband and eight-month-old daughter Emily.
This fall, Smith returned to the hospital.
"I got a phone call saying 'Can you come down?'" Louis said. "'Madi's back. She's taking senior photos.'"
"I just showed up as a surprise," Smith said. "I decided to return to take the senior photos because this area and this hospital and the people mean so much to me."
Her photos, and the scar on her chest from surgery, now serve as reminders of her journey.
"It's the most amazing thing I could have ever asked for," said Smith. "I get to be with my daughter and my family. [Dr. Louis] is the man that saved my life truly. He really did."
READ MORE
Middletown parents speaking out after 2-year-old hospitalized with 3 different viruses
After 636 days at Cincinnati Children's, one extreme preemie is finally home
Mother of Bengals player hid cancer diagnosis during preseason so he could achieve his lifelong dream
