Small Baby With PDA Thrives After Having a Constellation of Symptoms at Just 6 Days Old

How Stanford Medicine Children’s Health turned challenges into triumphs for a newborn with heart defects

In Mountain View, California, on March 24, 2025, a tiny fighter named Penelope Yee entered the world. Today, she is a thriving infant, but not too long ago, her life was filled with uncertainties.

Penelope’s parents, Francesca and Simon Yee, eagerly anticipated the joy of their newborn filling their lives with laughter. Unfortunately, this happiness was soon challenged by an unexpected turn of events.

Born at El Camino Health – Mountain View Hospital, Penelope was diagnosed with three congenital heart defects (CHDs)—patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), pulmonary stenosis, and atrial septal defect (ASD)—through echocardiograms. These heart conditions, detected at birth, are among the more common CHDs, with PDA being one of the top three most prevalent ones.

The El Camino Health – Mountain View Hospital care team discharged Penelope with a plan for outpatient monitoring of her heart conditions. However, during a routine checkup at 6 days old, her pediatrician identified hypothermia (a low body temperature) and advised her parents to seek further evaluation at El Camino Health – Mountain View Hospital.

Consultation identified the need for advanced tests and specialized care, so the team at El Camino Health – Mountain View Hospital referred Penelope to the nationally ranked Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), as part of a partnership between the two hospitals.

The critical intervention: Expert care at Stanford Children’s

“At Packard Children’s, we didn’t know what to expect,” recalls Francesca. “There were hypotheses, but the causes of her symptoms were not known.” The care team informed her that Penelope exhibited a constellation of symptoms, a term for a group of related symptoms suggesting an underlying medical issue.

Penelope spent a week at Packard Children’s under the care of various teams, primarily cardiology, but also neurology, genetics, gastroenterology, and other specialties. The multidisciplinary team at Packard Children’s coordinated closely with her NICU team, in particularly with Jonathan Reiss, MD, John Benjamin, MBBS, and Lawrence Prince, MD, PhD. Ensuring that Penelope’s diagnosed PDA, pulmonary stenosis, and ASD did not overshadow other potential issues exemplified the thoughtful approach to pediatric care at Packard Children’s.

Once her test results became available, it was confirmed that most of Penelope’s issues pertained to her heart. Typically, PDAs that don’t close naturally or respond to medication are addressed by interventional cardiologists. At Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, the Preterm Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) Closure Program specializes in such procedures, including for babies who have extremely low birth weight.

“There was a point when we didn’t know what was happening; the cardiology team was evaluating how to best address Penelope’s PDA following a previous cardiac catheterization to treat her pulmonary stenosis. The options included attempting to close it in the cath lab, continuing with medication, or performing surgery. To us it felt uncertain, but Brian Han, MD, came to us in the CVICU (Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit) and explained what they were thinking, and he was very transparent. That left an impression on us.”, says Francesca.

“When assessing Penelope prior to surgery, she exhibited rapid breathing, expending energy at high levels, and was not able to feed by mouth or do the typical things that other babies of her age are able to do,” recalls Shaun Setty, MD, heart surgeon and surgical director of Cardiovascular Intensive Care and director of Global Cardiac Care at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. Penelope’s heart defect warranted surgical intervention because it was too large to be closed with a cardiac catheterization device.

The ductus arteriosus is a temporary blood vessel that connects the aorta and pulmonary artery in a fetus during pregnancy. If it doesn’t close after birth, the extra blood flow from the aorta goes to the pulmonary artery, putting strain on the lung function and making the heart work harder. Small PDAs are not serious, but large ones cause heart failure.

Thriving after heart surgery: Continuing care and support for Penelope

Dr. Setty performed Penelope’s PDA surgery in approximately 40 minutes. “Penelope’s PDA was extremely large for a child her age; it was almost a direct connection (instead of a small passageway) between her aorta and pulmonary artery, and easily explained the degree of heart failure she was in,” Dr. Setty notes.

Following the procedure, the results were almost immediate; Penelope’s breathing normalized, and her ability to feed improved significantly. “It also reaffirmed to me that even repairing a simple congenital heart defect can make a huge difference, not only to a patient such as Penelope, but also for their whole family,” Dr. Setty reflects.

Francesca and Simon were relieved as they observed her ability to achieve key milestones for a baby her age. “We felt it was a positive outcome, and Penelope recovered quickly,” Francesca shares.

“The great thing about our heart center team is that it can handle any heart defects—from common to the highly complex and rare. We have great teams all around, and that makes it easy and gives comfort to families,” Dr. Setty emphasizes.

Throughout the journey, Penelope’s parents also have found comfort in seeing how seamlessly various hospital teams have worked together: “In the end, we felt that one team was working together; physically we were bouncing between units, but the teams were communicating with each other, there was continuity, and we were updated on what was going on,” says Francesca.

Six days after her surgery and time spent in the CVICU and acute care, Penelope returned home on May 8, 2025. The journey wasn’t easy on her parents. They expressed deep gratitude for the Johnson Center mental health care team with whom they were connected during Penelope’s NICU stay. The Betty Irene Moore Children’s Heart Center team can also offer families like Penelope’s and those of select pediatric heart patients similar mental health and emotional support through the Thrive Program.

The family also recalls the support and great experience offered by the Child Life and Creative Arts team, the lactation services team, and other hospital staff, including the cafeteria personnel. “Everyone was very empathetic and warm, and we were well taken care of. We loved our daughter being cared for at Stanford. The teams took incredible care, not only of Penelope, but of us too,” says Francesca.

Embracing life’s milestones: Penelope’s journey forward

Since returning home, Penelope continues to thrive, enjoying activities typical for her age and spending a lot of time with her grandparents. Recently, she marked a big milestone by starting daycare. Francesca, who has reached out to Penelope’s heart surgeon to share some of these milestones, feels connected to Dr. Setty, acknowledging, “Typically, it’s rare to establish a relationship with a surgeon, but we felt we could with Dr. Setty. He had shown tremendous compassion and made it possible for Penelope to get treated urgently.”

Francesca isn’t alone in perceiving Dr. Setty’s genuine care for his patients. His commitment extends beyond local care to voluntary missions in places like Fiji, providing heart surgery for children who wouldn’t have access to the lifesaving procedures.

As Penelope’s heart care progresses, she is followed by Susannah Kim, MD, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health network pediatric cardiologist. Dr. Kim, as a community provider, ensures continuity of care and monitors Penelope’s ASD in an outpatient setting, leveraging the network’s resources and collaborative approach to deliver exceptional care tailored to Penelope’s needs. In addition to her heart care, Penelope receives specialized attention to support her holistic recovery, including nutritional follow-up from a pediatric gastroenterologist, physical therapy, and a scheduled evaluation with the High-Risk Infant Follow-Up Clinic team this winter. Regular consultations with Megan Fischer, PsyD, at Stanford Medicine are part of her parents’ supportive routine.

Throughout these appointments, Penelope embraces her childhood, joyfully engaging in activities typical for her age and not letting her medical visits slow her down.

Learn more about our heart care and mom and baby services at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.