On November the 5th 1996 Shelly Lynn Bash was born with a severe congenital heart defect which neede around the clock care and sadly Shelly's parents could not cope with this care and so contacted the Social Services.
On January the 4th 1997, when Shelly was 2 months old, her new foster parents collected their new foster child. The couple had been fostering babies for 3 years.
They had to learn all about Shelly's condition Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). When a child is born with HLHS, the left chamber of the heart is not developed and oxygenated blood can not get through the body. The parents are given 3 options for the baby: 1) compassionate care (in other words take the baby home and the baby will die within about two months because of lack of oxygen, 2) three corrective heart surgeries that are done over the next eighteen months, the first surgery done at about 2 days old or 3) heart transplantation. The last two options were not guarantees but they were hopeful.
In April Shelly had surgery number 2 and got through it and made it to her 1st birthday. Shelly started to learn how to walk shortly after.
Sadly on Shelly's 3rd surgery her biological parents made the decision to sign off on all parental rights, they handed a gold necklace to the foster parents to give to Shelly and pictures were taken.
While in hospital the foster parents met another couple who could not have children of their own and who had grown to love Shelly and showed a desire to adopt her if parental rights were terminated. Shelly again did so well after her surgery and we began looking towards this young couple adopting Shelly. During the process of adoption papers being approved by the state, one more surgical procedure had to be completed when Shelly was 18 months old. After this heart catherization surgery, the doctor told us that the surgeries that were done on Shelly were not as successful as they had hoped and that Shelly would have to have a heart transplant.
We then had to break the sad news to the couple who were interested in adopting Shelly that we could not let her leave our home now as we are the only parent's that she knows and in her unstable heart condition to new parents she could die from a broken heart. Eventually Shelly was put on the heart transplant list.
When Shelly was 3 and a half years old the foster parents decided to adopt Shelly. Months later they still had not heard back and contacted the caseworker and adoption papers were completed and sent to the state adoption committee for approval. They waited for months and we finally were told that the State could not complete the information because of all of the medical legalities and if Shelly did have the heart transplant how would the medical bill be paid.
When Shelly was 4 years old she was rushed into hospital as her heart was failing, she had to get a new heart in the next 24 hours or she would die. Just a few days later a heart transplant was found.
The operation didnt go to plan and had to find a bleed and so had to open Shelly up again, the doctor's found it and closed her up again. Then other problems occured after the surgery and Shelly was in danger. Shelly had to have surgey on her diaphragm to repair it and it went well. After weeks in hospital Shelly was finally allowed to go back home.
Shelly was a whole new little girl, full of life.
The next 3 years were very hard as charts had to be kept of blood pressure and medication taken. The foster parents again applied for adoption and again wasnt told what was happening.
Shelly loved going to church, horseback riding, jumping on her trampoline, swinging on her swing in the back yard while singing songs. Wintertime she enjoyed snow sledding, gymnastics visiting the animals at the Animal Control and going to piano lessons. Shelly loved dolls and had a big collection of them.
When Shelly turned 8 she had a pacemaker fitted. After wards the foster family was told sad news , that due to an unknown cause of acute coronary artery disease Shelly's new heart was in total rejection and she would have to be placed again on the heart transplant list. Shelly may not live long enough to receive another heart on the transplant list. The family had still not heard about the adoption going through.
Sadly on March the 31st 2005, Shelly passed away at home in her foster Mother's arms, she was 8 years old.
Three months after Shelly passed away her foster Mother was still wondering what happened with the adoption papers and contacted them only to be told the adoption went through on the 30th March, the day before Shelly passed away.
**A big thankyou to SusanR for sponsoring Shelly's memorial**
On January the 4th 1997, when Shelly was 2 months old, her new foster parents collected their new foster child. The couple had been fostering babies for 3 years.
They had to learn all about Shelly's condition Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). When a child is born with HLHS, the left chamber of the heart is not developed and oxygenated blood can not get through the body. The parents are given 3 options for the baby: 1) compassionate care (in other words take the baby home and the baby will die within about two months because of lack of oxygen, 2) three corrective heart surgeries that are done over the next eighteen months, the first surgery done at about 2 days old or 3) heart transplantation. The last two options were not guarantees but they were hopeful.
In April Shelly had surgery number 2 and got through it and made it to her 1st birthday. Shelly started to learn how to walk shortly after.
Sadly on Shelly's 3rd surgery her biological parents made the decision to sign off on all parental rights, they handed a gold necklace to the foster parents to give to Shelly and pictures were taken.
While in hospital the foster parents met another couple who could not have children of their own and who had grown to love Shelly and showed a desire to adopt her if parental rights were terminated. Shelly again did so well after her surgery and we began looking towards this young couple adopting Shelly. During the process of adoption papers being approved by the state, one more surgical procedure had to be completed when Shelly was 18 months old. After this heart catherization surgery, the doctor told us that the surgeries that were done on Shelly were not as successful as they had hoped and that Shelly would have to have a heart transplant.
We then had to break the sad news to the couple who were interested in adopting Shelly that we could not let her leave our home now as we are the only parent's that she knows and in her unstable heart condition to new parents she could die from a broken heart. Eventually Shelly was put on the heart transplant list.
When Shelly was 3 and a half years old the foster parents decided to adopt Shelly. Months later they still had not heard back and contacted the caseworker and adoption papers were completed and sent to the state adoption committee for approval. They waited for months and we finally were told that the State could not complete the information because of all of the medical legalities and if Shelly did have the heart transplant how would the medical bill be paid.
When Shelly was 4 years old she was rushed into hospital as her heart was failing, she had to get a new heart in the next 24 hours or she would die. Just a few days later a heart transplant was found.
The operation didnt go to plan and had to find a bleed and so had to open Shelly up again, the doctor's found it and closed her up again. Then other problems occured after the surgery and Shelly was in danger. Shelly had to have surgey on her diaphragm to repair it and it went well. After weeks in hospital Shelly was finally allowed to go back home.
Shelly was a whole new little girl, full of life.
The next 3 years were very hard as charts had to be kept of blood pressure and medication taken. The foster parents again applied for adoption and again wasnt told what was happening.
Shelly loved going to church, horseback riding, jumping on her trampoline, swinging on her swing in the back yard while singing songs. Wintertime she enjoyed snow sledding, gymnastics visiting the animals at the Animal Control and going to piano lessons. Shelly loved dolls and had a big collection of them.
When Shelly turned 8 she had a pacemaker fitted. After wards the foster family was told sad news , that due to an unknown cause of acute coronary artery disease Shelly's new heart was in total rejection and she would have to be placed again on the heart transplant list. Shelly may not live long enough to receive another heart on the transplant list. The family had still not heard about the adoption going through.
Sadly on March the 31st 2005, Shelly passed away at home in her foster Mother's arms, she was 8 years old.
Three months after Shelly passed away her foster Mother was still wondering what happened with the adoption papers and contacted them only to be told the adoption went through on the 30th March, the day before Shelly passed away.
**A big thankyou to SusanR for sponsoring Shelly's memorial**
On November the 5th 1996 Shelly Lynn Bash was born with a severe congenital heart defect which neede around the clock care and sadly Shelly's parents could not cope with this care and so contacted the Social Services.
On January the 4th 1997, when Shelly was 2 months old, her new foster parents collected their new foster child. The couple had been fostering babies for 3 years.
They had to learn all about Shelly's condition Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). When a child is born with HLHS, the left chamber of the heart is not developed and oxygenated blood can not get through the body. The parents are given 3 options for the baby: 1) compassionate care (in other words take the baby home and the baby will die within about two months because of lack of oxygen, 2) three corrective heart surgeries that are done over the next eighteen months, the first surgery done at about 2 days old or 3) heart transplantation. The last two options were not guarantees but they were hopeful.
In April Shelly had surgery number 2 and got through it and made it to her 1st birthday. Shelly started to learn how to walk shortly after.
Sadly on Shelly's 3rd surgery her biological parents made the decision to sign off on all parental rights, they handed a gold necklace to the foster parents to give to Shelly and pictures were taken.
While in hospital the foster parents met another couple who could not have children of their own and who had grown to love Shelly and showed a desire to adopt her if parental rights were terminated. Shelly again did so well after her surgery and we began looking towards this young couple adopting Shelly. During the process of adoption papers being approved by the state, one more surgical procedure had to be completed when Shelly was 18 months old. After this heart catherization surgery, the doctor told us that the surgeries that were done on Shelly were not as successful as they had hoped and that Shelly would have to have a heart transplant.
We then had to break the sad news to the couple who were interested in adopting Shelly that we could not let her leave our home now as we are the only parent's that she knows and in her unstable heart condition to new parents she could die from a broken heart. Eventually Shelly was put on the heart transplant list.
When Shelly was 3 and a half years old the foster parents decided to adopt Shelly. Months later they still had not heard back and contacted the caseworker and adoption papers were completed and sent to the state adoption committee for approval. They waited for months and we finally were told that the State could not complete the information because of all of the medical legalities and if Shelly did have the heart transplant how would the medical bill be paid.
When Shelly was 4 years old she was rushed into hospital as her heart was failing, she had to get a new heart in the next 24 hours or she would die. Just a few days later a heart transplant was found.
The operation didnt go to plan and had to find a bleed and so had to open Shelly up again, the doctor's found it and closed her up again. Then other problems occured after the surgery and Shelly was in danger. Shelly had to have surgey on her diaphragm to repair it and it went well. After weeks in hospital Shelly was finally allowed to go back home.
Shelly was a whole new little girl, full of life.
The next 3 years were very hard as charts had to be kept of blood pressure and medication taken. The foster parents again applied for adoption and again wasnt told what was happening.
Shelly loved going to church, horseback riding, jumping on her trampoline, swinging on her swing in the back yard while singing songs. Wintertime she enjoyed snow sledding, gymnastics visiting the animals at the Animal Control and going to piano lessons. Shelly loved dolls and had a big collection of them.
When Shelly turned 8 she had a pacemaker fitted. After wards the foster family was told sad news , that due to an unknown cause of acute coronary artery disease Shelly's new heart was in total rejection and she would have to be placed again on the heart transplant list. Shelly may not live long enough to receive another heart on the transplant list. The family had still not heard about the adoption going through.
Sadly on March the 31st 2005, Shelly passed away at home in her foster Mother's arms, she was 8 years old.
Three months after Shelly passed away her foster Mother was still wondering what happened with the adoption papers and contacted them only to be told the adoption went through on the 30th March, the day before Shelly passed away.
**A big thankyou to SusanR for sponsoring Shelly's memorial**
On January the 4th 1997, when Shelly was 2 months old, her new foster parents collected their new foster child. The couple had been fostering babies for 3 years.
They had to learn all about Shelly's condition Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). When a child is born with HLHS, the left chamber of the heart is not developed and oxygenated blood can not get through the body. The parents are given 3 options for the baby: 1) compassionate care (in other words take the baby home and the baby will die within about two months because of lack of oxygen, 2) three corrective heart surgeries that are done over the next eighteen months, the first surgery done at about 2 days old or 3) heart transplantation. The last two options were not guarantees but they were hopeful.
In April Shelly had surgery number 2 and got through it and made it to her 1st birthday. Shelly started to learn how to walk shortly after.
Sadly on Shelly's 3rd surgery her biological parents made the decision to sign off on all parental rights, they handed a gold necklace to the foster parents to give to Shelly and pictures were taken.
While in hospital the foster parents met another couple who could not have children of their own and who had grown to love Shelly and showed a desire to adopt her if parental rights were terminated. Shelly again did so well after her surgery and we began looking towards this young couple adopting Shelly. During the process of adoption papers being approved by the state, one more surgical procedure had to be completed when Shelly was 18 months old. After this heart catherization surgery, the doctor told us that the surgeries that were done on Shelly were not as successful as they had hoped and that Shelly would have to have a heart transplant.
We then had to break the sad news to the couple who were interested in adopting Shelly that we could not let her leave our home now as we are the only parent's that she knows and in her unstable heart condition to new parents she could die from a broken heart. Eventually Shelly was put on the heart transplant list.
When Shelly was 3 and a half years old the foster parents decided to adopt Shelly. Months later they still had not heard back and contacted the caseworker and adoption papers were completed and sent to the state adoption committee for approval. They waited for months and we finally were told that the State could not complete the information because of all of the medical legalities and if Shelly did have the heart transplant how would the medical bill be paid.
When Shelly was 4 years old she was rushed into hospital as her heart was failing, she had to get a new heart in the next 24 hours or she would die. Just a few days later a heart transplant was found.
The operation didnt go to plan and had to find a bleed and so had to open Shelly up again, the doctor's found it and closed her up again. Then other problems occured after the surgery and Shelly was in danger. Shelly had to have surgey on her diaphragm to repair it and it went well. After weeks in hospital Shelly was finally allowed to go back home.
Shelly was a whole new little girl, full of life.
The next 3 years were very hard as charts had to be kept of blood pressure and medication taken. The foster parents again applied for adoption and again wasnt told what was happening.
Shelly loved going to church, horseback riding, jumping on her trampoline, swinging on her swing in the back yard while singing songs. Wintertime she enjoyed snow sledding, gymnastics visiting the animals at the Animal Control and going to piano lessons. Shelly loved dolls and had a big collection of them.
When Shelly turned 8 she had a pacemaker fitted. After wards the foster family was told sad news , that due to an unknown cause of acute coronary artery disease Shelly's new heart was in total rejection and she would have to be placed again on the heart transplant list. Shelly may not live long enough to receive another heart on the transplant list. The family had still not heard about the adoption going through.
Sadly on March the 31st 2005, Shelly passed away at home in her foster Mother's arms, she was 8 years old.
Three months after Shelly passed away her foster Mother was still wondering what happened with the adoption papers and contacted them only to be told the adoption went through on the 30th March, the day before Shelly passed away.
**A big thankyou to SusanR for sponsoring Shelly's memorial**
