Ga. baby with rare heart condition passes away in Boston

ATLANTA - A Georgia baby with a rare heart condition passed away in Boston Monday afternoon. Her family said she was a fighter until the very end.

Mary Beth Scott was receiving treatment at Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts. She had been there since before Christmas; however, the 8-month-old’s struggles started before she was born after being diagnosed in utero with critical Congenital Heart Disease. She was born on May 12, 2015 with a number of heart complications.

Mary Beth was in and out of the hospital for the last eight months, with her parents by her side.

“She truly was a warrior princess,” her mother Allison Christopher said on Facebook. “Goodbye is never easy but we have faith in knowing that her little body is healed and she is now and forever safe in the arms of the Lord.”

In early November, Mary Beth’s cardiologist discovered she had a very rare life threatening condition called pulmonary vein stenosis or PVS. Her mother told us there isn’t a cure; just a life long battle with open heart surgeries, extended hospital stays and for some patients a heart transplant. Boston Children’s was the only hospital that accepted Mary Beth’s case since her diagnosis. She traveled there to undergo a high-risk open heart surgery, which took place last month. Following the surgery, she struggled with a number of issues including swelling, retaining fluid and kidney failure.

Mary Beth would have been 9-months-old on Friday.

It will cost thousands of dollars to bring her back home to Georgia, so a family friend has created a GoFundMe account to help raise money. According to the GoFundMe page, money is also needed for funeral expenses. 

“Because she had no life insurance, this amount of money is unfortunately a financial burden on her family. Help us please lift that burden off of her family in such a devastating time. Any amount will help.”

If you would like to donate and help bring Mary Beth home, please click here.

In honor of Mary Beth, Simpson is also asking that everyone to learn more about Congenital Heart Defect (CHD), which affects roughly 1.8 million families in the United States and is a leading cause of birth-defect related deaths worldwide.

February 7-14 is CHD Awareness Week in Georgia. You can learn more about CHD here.