Family returning to Australia with healthier child

COLUMBUS, Ohio --A girl whose family came to the United States for a heart operation that saved her life is ready to go home to Australia.

Her parents, who were to begin their trip yesterday, say 5-month-old Phelicity Sneesby is crying, smiling, making noise and behaving like any other infant.

Doctors discovered while her mother Veronica Sneesby was pregnant that Phelicity had hypoplastic left-heart syndrome - also known as "half a heart." The part that pumped blood from the lungs through the body was underdeveloped.

She has been under close medical supervision since being born at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus on July 18. Now, her next doctor's appointment is more than a month away.

"Her oxygen saturation is skyrocketing," her father said. "It's great."

The Sneesbys and their other daughter, 2-year-old Mahalia, came to the United States after they learned through the Internet about Dr. Mark Galantowicz, who had developed procedures to help babies such as Phelicity.

Other doctors could have operated on her, but Galantowicz has developed less invasive surgical procedures. She had operations on July 30 and Dec. 16 at the new heart center in Children's Hospital. Galantowicz is the center's director.

In the second operation, she had her chest open for nearly nine hours. Arteries in her heart were bound together, and the wall that separates two chambers was removed. The vessel that would take blood to the heart was made to take blood to the lungs instead.

The Sneesbys gave up their jobs and most of their savings so Phelicity could have the operation, but they are leaving with some money.

Since Phelicity's story was publicized in December, at least 40 people have made donations to them, her mother said. When her father went to sell the 1989-model car the family had driven in Columbus, representatives of an auto dealership told him they could not buy it, but surprised him with a gift of $1,000. The car eventually was sold to an individual.

"It gives us some money to travel on, and we'll be able to fill the cupboards when we get home," Ben Sneesby said.

The family probably will be back. Phelicity needs another operation in a year or two after she grows a little. But compared to what she and her family have been through already, it will be a minor procedure.