Mother’s Day to remember

Maria Squitieri truly treasures her role as a mother of two and feels especially blessed to be able to share Mother’s Day with her 7-month-old daughter, Juliana, who underwent heart surgery several months ago.
When Juliana was three months old, her mother noticed that she was coughing a lot and took her to see the family pediatrician. The Squitieri family, which lives in Nassau County, eventually went to Schneider Children’s Hospital because it looked as though the baby was having a heart attack.
A chest X-ray revealed that Juliana’s heart was enlarged and that she had Anomalous Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery (ALCAPA). This is an extremely rare condition where the coronary artery is attached to the pulmonary artery rather than the aorta.
Juliana’s cardiologist, Dr. Devyani Chowdhury, was able to diagnose the condition. Dr. Vincent Parnell, Surgeon-in-Chief at Schneider Children’s Hospital, then performed open heart surgery on the little girl on January 9, 2006. The surgery moved the coronary artery to its proper location, the aorta.
“I do have to say just how blessed we really are,” Maria said during a press conference on Friday, May 12. “Everybody here (at the hospital) has been so great.”
According to Juliana’s father, Mark, she still takes come medications, although they are only short-term and she is already being weaned off some of them. Parnell said that she has “a very good long-term outlook.”
Maria, who also has a 4-year-old son named Christian, said that Juliana has always been a happy baby, but now her personality is starting to come out more.
This year’s Mothers Day marked the first one that Maria would spend with both Christian as well as Juliana.
“It’s definitely going to be a one-of-a-kind Mother’s Day,” she said, adding that she would be taking in the moment and enjoying it.