When Rodney was just 35 years old, his primary care physician at another health system noticed he had a heart murmur and diagnosed Rodney with moderate mitral valve prolapse. Rodney’s condition—in which one of the heart’s valves doesn’t close properly and allows blood to back up into the heart—seemed manageable. He continued regular checkups and stayed active by hiking, interval training, and scuba diving. He was living life without major limitations or symptoms.  

When Paige’s water broke at 37 weeks pregnant, she was ready to meet her baby. It was a markedly different feeling from earlier in her pregnancy, when, at 25 weeks gestation, Paige underwent a surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital to repair a defect in her baby’s spine. With tears in her eyes, Paige was wheeled back to the operating room, hoping that doctors wouldn’t have to deliver her baby early because of the procedure.

“What I’d tell my former self is: Don’t give up,” says Zach, who lost both of his legs in a workplace accident in 2019. Zach underwent osseointegration with WashU Medicine Physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a groundbreaking surgery to implant prosthesis directly into a patient’s bone.

Last year, St. Louis mom Sara Schwartz discovered she was pregnant with not one but two babies –– identical twin girls. Schwartz, who was already a mother of three (to children ages 12, 11 and 9) felt excited about her “bonus babies” on the way, despite it being a high-risk pregnancy.