One Pineville family is telling the story of their six-year-old daughter, Kate Stephenson, who suffered a stroke in February.
After running tests, doctors found that the stroke was linked to something much larger: a tumor on her heart.
This required her to be flown to Oschner’s in New Orleans where she had open heart surgery on March 4. Kate’s body responded well to surgery, and she was able to come home just a few days later.
The Stephensons are members of the Church of Latter Day Saints, and it just so happens to be that the church’s president, Dr. Russell Nelson, actually helped to develop the breakthrough artificial heart-lung machine – a tool that’s used in many open-heart surgeries, including Kate’s.
Her mother, Lindsay Stephenson, said people continued to ask how they could help the family during this time, and for a long time she didn’t know what to tell them. But now, the community’s stepped in with an opportunity to not only help the Stephenson family, but others with medical emergencies as well.
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