Meet Azai, who faced heart surgery at 5 weeks

After their daughter Azai was born with a congenital heart defect, Tara and Daniel thanked her care team the best way they knew how: an investment in the future of Children’s Health

A little over 7 pounds, the tiny baby slept amid an army of beeping machines that monitored her vitals.  

The machines – with all their flashing lights and steady hum – seemed powerful, but the babe draped under a pink blanket was strong.  

Diagnosed in utero at 20 weeks with a congenital heart defect, her parents, Tara and Daniel, knew she’d need grit for the journey ahead, so they named her Azai – a Hebrew name that means strength.  

“We had a plan in place, but until she was born, we didn’t entirely know what to expect,” Tara said. “We tried to keep ourselves steady and calm as best we could. There’s a lot of options when your child has a heart defect, but what gave me the biggest sense of relief was the care we received from Children’s Health.”  

Azai was not Tara and Daniel’s first baby. (Her older sister, Maia, was born four years earlier.) The couple entered their second run at parenthood with an idea of what to expect. 

They understood sleep and feeding. They knew about all the appointments and had most of the baby gear (and knew how it worked).  

A health concern for their baby was not on their radar. 

So, when a sonographer technician took extra time during the 20-week anatomy scan and her obstetrician referred them to Children’s Health, Tara was alarmed.  

“There were a lot of hard nights of what ifs, but the care team at Children’s Health calmed us down,” Tara said. “The prenatal care that I received made me more confident that this team was the best to care for Azai once she was born.”  

Catherine Ikemba, M.D., pediatric cardiologist in The Heart Center at Children’s Health, confirmed through a fetal echocardiogram that Azai had tetralogy of Fallot – a combination of four heart defects that causes oxygen-poor blood to flow out of the heart and into the rest of the body. The defect usually requires heart repair surgery during the first year of life.  

During pregnancy, Tara and Daniel had several appointments with Dr. Ikemba, also a professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Ryan Davies, M.D., pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon in The Heart Center at Children’s Health, to monitor Azai’s heart as it grew and put a plan together for her treatment once she was born. The team also taught Tara and Daniel about Azai’s specific heart condition and how to care for her.  

Since Tara’s pregnancy, The Heart Center has also expanded its care for expecting mothers to include mental health counseling and screening for anxiety, depression and stress at both the Dallas and Plano campuses.  

“A diagnosis like this puts families through a lot,” said Dr. Ikemba, Director of the Fetal Heart Program at Children’s Health. “Pregnancy is stressful, even if the child doesn’t have a heart condition, and the most common complication of pregnancy is mood disorders. I’m proud that these resources now exist and are accessible for families. It’s part of our responsibility as we care for the patient and the whole family.”  

The plan comes into reality

Tara’s labor with Azai was short, and she pushed her out a few days before Thanksgiving.  

“Once I delivered her, I looked up and there was a room full of people, and I thought, ‘OK, now it’s time,’” Tara remembered. “They placed her on my chest for a little bit. My body wanted to be nervous, but my mind reminded me that we had a plan. There were 15 care team members in the delivery room for this baby.”  

Tara gave birth to Azai at UT Southwestern's Clements University Hospital – about one mile away from Children’s Medical Center Dallas, where Azai would be cared for after birth. 

Shortly after delivery, the Children’s Health transport team rushed Azai to the Dallas campus so the clinical team could monitor her and determine next steps. But before leaving, they stopped by Tara’s postpartum room for mom and baby to say goodbye.  

“That act was small to them, but it was huge for me because I was nervous about her going to another place without me,” Tara said. “I looked down at Azai. She was calm and so little. And she had these four guys around her to take her over, and they were smiling at me. I knew then that she was in good hands.”  

That first night, Tara was alone in her postpartum room, while Daniel went to the Dallas hospital to be with Azai. There, he watched as her oxygen levels fell. The next day, Tara made her way to Children’s Health to see Azai as the team was prepping her for surgery.  

Because of her oxygen levels, the procedure was necessary but not what Tara and Daniel had hoped for during the pregnancy. They cried as they held Azai, wishing she could have been a little older and stronger before surgery.  

And at that moment, Children’s Health clinical team members noticed her oxygen levels rising, and Dr. Davies opted to delay the surgery to a month later, giving Azai time to gain strength to make the surgery safer.  

“They made a U-turn on a dime based on what was happening to her in that moment. Sometimes in health care you get stuck on what you decided to previously do,” Daniel said. “But the team gave her a chance to fight for her own health.”  

A surgery that changed the trajectory of Azai's life

At five weeks old, Azai had open heart surgery to close the hole in her heart between the pumping chambers and widen the pulmonary valve to allow for better blood flow from the heart to the lungs.  

“Our ability to perform these kinds of surgeries now is amazing,” said Dr. Davies, also a professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “It’s an extraordinary team effort where we’re all surrounding one tiny baby to close a hole that’s a centimeter large – at most – and it takes all these people to do it well.”  

The six-hour surgery led by Dr. Davies was a success and Azai was discharged from the hospital five days later.  

Tara and Daniel did a victory dance as they left the hospital, where they lived for the first month of Azai’s life.  

And while they were giddy to begin their life as a family of four, they also knew this was the start of an ongoing relationship with Children’s Health and the team who watched over Azai, changed her diapers and rocked her to sleep during the first month of her life.  

Now 3 years old, Azai receives annual check-ups from the team. She loves dressing up in sparkly princess dresses, watching cartoons and traveling to the beach.  

“The hope we have for Azai is to have a full life, to contribute to her community and to pay it forward,” Tara said. “She’s been given an extended chance at life thanks to Children’s Health. We want her to take that opportunity and help other kids in the future.”  

Giving back 

When they returned home, Tara and Daniel remembered the other families they met during their month-long stay at Children’s Health.  

They saw the support they needed as they balanced working and parenting other children, while caring for a child with complex needs.  

An entrepreneur couple with a successful business, they offered a hand through a financial gift to support the social work team in The Heart Center, who connect families to resources such as financial and travel assistance while their child is undergoing care. These services rely on philanthropic support and come at no cost to patient families. 

“We could have landed anywhere but thank goodness we’re at Children’s Health. Now, we want to give back the way we know best, and that’s with gifting,” Tara said.   

In 2024, the couple made their most significant investment in the future of Children’s Health through a pledge to support the new Dallas pediatric campus. They understand that our community is growing, and this fast-paced growth rushes in the critical need for greater access to pediatric health care.  

They’re also hopeful for the expanded care the new campus will provide families like theirs through a comprehensive Fetal Care Center, including a connector bridge that will link Clements University Hospital to the new Dallas campus to keep mothers and babies who need care at Children’s Health after birth as close as possible.  

“People in the community need to understand that it takes their giving back to support new technologies, find new procedures and build more emergency and patient rooms,” Daniel said. “Children’s Health has been here for more than a century, and that didn’t just happen. They had help.” 

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