“She is finally here and just ready to live her life,” newborn spent year and a half in hospital due to series of serious health problems, cardiac surgery and ventilator support, finally goes home

Premature born babies often experience a series of health problems and they face higher the risk of death or serious disability. While the medicine is constantly improving and those risks are now lower compared to past years, in some cases doctors simply are not able to do much resulting with long-term disabilities in babies or even death.

Fortunately, in the case of the now 19-month-old Bradi everything went well and she was finally discharged from hospital few days ago after spending her whole life since being born last August. The child was born at only 25 weeks into her mother’s pregnancy due to a pregnancy complication known as a placental abruption.

According to Action News 5, the last few months have been nothing but an exhausting, long and emotional roller coaster for the Fosters, but they were happy to finally seeing their fourth child home for the first time in their lives. The staff with the Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts sent the toddler home with a special sendoff.

“All her doctors and her nurses and her respiratory therapist – everybody was there, blowing bubbles and cheering for her,” said Bradi’s mother, Darlene Foster. “The light at the end of the tunnel after 19 months.”

Bradi was born at only 25 weeks and she experienced a series of serious health problems resulting with constant medical care and treatment as well as 24-hour monitoring in the next year and a half. At one point, the baby underwent cardiac surgery and she was placed on ventilator and oxygen support. As a result of everything she went through, Bradi was place on IV nutrition for several months, but that treatment was stopped before she was discharged from the hospital.

Bradi is starting to eat some pureed food by mouth, but she still needs a gastrostomy tube. The tube is attached to a specialized, animal-themed backpack that Foster can wear around the house. She is being sent home with an adaptive backpack, provided by The Kid Fund, which is an employee-sponsored group at Franciscan Children’s, WCVB reported.

“There’s a little tube that goes to them, and it gives them full mobility so they can really experience what life at home is going to be like,” said Franciscan Children’s patient advocate Amanda Voysey, according to Newsweek.

Once doctors decided that she was strong enough to go home, she was discharged from the hospital and sent home last Monday. The lovely toddler is about to finally begin her new life at her home with her parents, their dog and three older sisters aged 6, 4 and 3.

“She’s just happy to be alive and happy to love everyone,” her mother said. “She has never met the dog, so that’s a big deal. She hasn’t seen her sisters since July, so this is a huge deal, that they finally get to see her.”

“She is finally here and just ready to live her life,” the mother said, according to the B. Herald.