Morelia Espinoza's Story

Gloria Jiminez and Luis Francisco Espinoza knew something was wrong with their 3-year-old Morelia when she suddenly became very quiet. "We tried to make her talk, but she wouldn’t answer," said Espinoza, 35, of Wenatchee.

Morelia’s eyes began to roll, and her parents realized she was suffering from debilitating seizures. "We took her to the local hospital, and they couldn’t find out what was going on," he said.

Last November, Morelia was airlifted to Harborview for what was thought to be surgery to remove a brain tumor. Once she was here, neurosurgeons diagnosed her with a rare and life-threatening aneurysm in the front part of her brain. An angiogram revealed an aneurysm measuring 4.85 centimeters - the size of a tangerine. "It’s rare for a child to have an aneurysm, and I’d never seen one that big in a child," said neurosurgeon Dr. Gavin Britz, UW assistant professor.

The aneurysm was twice the size of what is considered large in an adult and is often fatal.  The weakened blood vessel had hemorrhaged and expanded to a size "that would have killed most people instantly," Britz said. Harborview neurosurgeons told Jiminez and Espinoza, that their little girl would not survive without the surgery, but because of the size and location of the aneurysm, the operation itself was also extremely risky. Surgeons gave Morelia a 15 to 20 percent chance of survival without deficits.

Britz said he was confident that he and his team of surgeons could remove the aneurysm, but a question remained: "Could we preserve normal brain function?"

On Nov. 8, 2004, Britz and his team performed a 16-hour operation to remove and repair the aneurysm. Britz and his team clipped and repaired blood vessels to the growth, removed most of the growth and reconstructed the wall of the blood vessels. The neurosurgery team had to exercise extreme caution and precision because of the large aneurysm and because children have soft brains.

"We were so scared, my wife and I were," Espinoza recalled. "It was a long, long day."  During the surgery, he and Jiminez, 29, tried not to think about the surgery and instead talked with their family about life and other things.

The first 24 hours after the surgery were critical. Doctors watched the preschooler closely to see if she experienced any strokes as a result of the surgery. She had none. Soon after she awoke, Morelia asked to see her 8-year-old brother, Luis. Morelia, who is now 4 years old, is happy and healthy. She likes drawing, watching cartoons, running, jumping and playing with Luis.

"I want to thank all the doctors at Harborview," Espinoza said, "for bringing back my little girl to life again."