Bartlesville Family Hopeful That Surgery Will Save 4-Month-Old With Genetic Disease

A family in Bartlesville is hoping surgery for their 4-month-old daughter will save her life.

She was diagnosed with a genetic disease that's causing her heart to not work right.

Loren and Joshua Randolph say they didn't think baby Hazel would make it this far and when they got the call she had been accepted to get surgery in California that could potentially save her life, it was like angels talking to them.

Hazel Randolph is four months old and she's working on hitting milestones like other babies, like tummy time and teething.

"She's very good at watching you, she loves to watch you. She will track you like if you start dancing in front of her or start talking and immediately look over," said her father Josh Randolph.

Hazel is also fighting for her life.

Her mom says Hazel was diagnosed with DiGeorge Syndrome just days after she was born.

A piece of her 22nd chromosome is missing.

"It contains multiple genes and it can affect nearly every system in her body and one of those is her heart, and so her heart did not develop correctly," her mom Loren Hazel said.

Loren says Hazel's heart isn't sending oxygenated blood to her lungs, her arteries are irregular, and there is a trunk in her heart and a hole doctors need to close.

A hospital in Oklahoma City wasn't able to do that kind of surgery, so they had to find one that could , and about two weeks ago, Stanford Hospital in California told them they could fix all those issues in one surgery.

Loren couldn't believe it.

"It is scary, it is open heart surgery, and she is so little there is also that fear but there is a chance, and if there's a chance then we're going to take it," said Loren.

In the meantime, Hazel is in hospice. Loren and Joshua are making sure Hazel's oxygen levels don't get too high or too low, and they feed her through a tube every four hours.

Loren says it takes on toll, but there's one thing that gets them through.

"By finding the joy in every day, I mean we have to, otherwise it will consume us, you know, the joy that she's still here," said Loren. 

Hazel needs to get a different surgery in June to move her feeding tube into her stomach before she goes to California for open heart surgery in the fall.

You can help the Randolphs at the links below.

Fundraiser by Loren Randolph : Help Hazel's Heart: A Fight for Life (gofundme.com)

Venmo : Jrando96

Cashapp:$jrando96

PayPal: randolphjosh