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Birth of a Breakthrough: Spina Bifida Video - CHOP

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Brief Introduction

Receiving a prenatal spina bifida diagnosis is a life-changing and devastating experience for expectant parents. CHOP’s Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment team has worked for decades at the forefront of the field to develop a remarkable breakthrough surgery option to treat spina bifida before birth and lessen its lifelong impact. Watch the complete Birth of a Breakthrough: Spina Bifida Video to learn more about how to deal with a spina bifida diagnosis for your unborn child.

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The Birth of a Breakthrough Video explores spina bifida diagnosis, treatment options, delivery and follow-up care at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Experts at CHOP’s Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment have the world’s greatest collective experience in prenatal repair for spina bifida.
 

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Transcript: Brief Introduction


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Katherine Mulligan, mother: It was our first child. We were very excited, and of course, we were doing the countdown like every new parent does.

Michael Mulligan, father: We were looking forward to having our first ultrasound for our new baby and start our family together.

Katherine Mulligan, mother: "Well-baby ultrasound" they called it. You know, just to check everything out. No big deal. We weren't even going to find out if we were having a boy or a girl.

Michael Mulligan, father: And, of course, we didn't get exactly the great news we were expecting.

Katherine Mulligan, mother: No. The technician found that our child's brain was not forming correctly. So we had to go to a higher level ultrasound.

Michael Mulligan, father: So we did that and they confirmed that we had a baby with spina bifida.

Katherine Mulligan, mother: And, of course, our lives were turned upside down. All those hopes, dreams and everything else you had for your child were just gone.

N. Scott Adzick, MD: In the context of families getting a new diagnosis of spina bifida, they may or may not know much about it.

Mark P. Johnson, MD: It must not only be quite a shock, but because they may not understand what that means, it's probably pretty terrifying.

Leslie N. Sutton, MD: And we started talking about paralysis and catheters and shunts and wheelchairs, and they start to cry because this is not what they imagined.

Lori J. Howell, RN: All of their hopes and dreams for that child are readjusted, are reorganized.

Susan R. Miesnik, MSN: Most of the time they get this diagnosis before they actually come to see us, so they've had some time to adjust to it.

Lori J. Howell, RN: And one of our jobs at our center is to make sure that mothers have every option available to them.

N. Scott Adzick, MD: ...to educate them, to advise them, to help them so that whatever choice the mother and the family makes is the right one for them.

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