Prayers, faith sustain Indiana family through infant's fight for life

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (CNS) -- At first glance, Anne Therese Felts looks like any thriving 10-week-old baby.

"Annie" -- as her older brother and sisters call her -- has a sweet little face and a beautiful smile. And she is healthy now. Every baby is a miracle, but the story of her rare medical condition and amazing fight for life is especially miraculous. She is named for Anne Therese Guerin, the French nun who founded the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods and who was canonized last year as St. Mother Theodore Guerin. At 27 weeks gestation, the fourth child of St. Simon the Apostle parishioners Chris and Paje Felts of Indianapolis was diagnosed with having a rare pericardial teratoma -- a racquetball-size tumor attached to her heart. She overcame overwhelming odds during the hours and days after her premature birth Dec. 28, 2006. From the time of her prenatal diagnosis through her birth at 36 weeks gestation, Anne Therese has been showered with prayers. Those prayers by family members, friends and countless other people of faith continued during complicated heart surgery a day later and throughout her struggle to breathe without a respirator. The Sisters of Providence and Discalced Carmelite nuns of Terre Haute were among those who kept her in prayer daily -- both before and after her birth -- imploring God, through Mary and St. Mother Theodore, to grant a miracle and save her life. "She's truly a miracle," Paje Felts said of her tiny daughter. "She gets held a lot. She's a special little baby. She always has a smile on her face. ... Her surgeon said, 'God has big plans for this little girl.'" When Chris and Paje Felts learned about their baby's rare tumor, his family from Holy Spirit Parish in Indianapolis and her family from St. Patrick Parish in Terre Haute immediately focused on prayer. "We asked a lot of people for prayers," Paje Felts told The Criterion, newspaper of the Indianapolis Archdiocese. "We knew that's what was needed. We had to have that kind of network (of support)." They believe God's providence led them to Dr. John Brown, a cardiothoracic surgeon who performed the delicate five-hour operation to remove the baby's tumor at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. "The tumor went from one side of her chest to the other," Paje Felts said. "It was huge. I knew God had led us to Dr. Brown and that he was the right surgeon." Chris Felts said he still marvels at the surgeon's ability to repair his newborn daughter's tiny heart, which was completely covered by the tumor. Now, the only indication of Anne Therese's surgery is a faint two-inch scar on her little chest. "She's a fighter," Chris Felts said as he held his daughter. "She made it past a couple of hurdles." Their 5-year-old twins, Patrick and Madeline, and 2-year-old Jacqueline love to help take care of Annie by getting diapers and blankets. Brown said he has written a report about Anne Therese Felts' rare teratoma for publication in a medical journal. That's fine with Chris and Paje Felts, who are happy their youngest daughter has a miraculous story to share with the world. They also believe St. Mother Theodore had a hand in their baby's successful surgery. Paje, her three sisters and their mother, Patricia Etling, are graduates of St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and have prayed to Mother Theodore Guerin for years. "When the (Providence) sisters found out that this baby was in such trouble, they decided to pray night and day," Patricia Etling said. "I had anybody I saw or knew praying for the baby. The sisters at the Carmelite monastery also prayed hard that this baby was going to be OK. "Our faith and our prayers have sustained us throughout our life," she said. "I prayed to St. Mother Theodore, 'If you let this baby live, she will do great things in your name.' ... We had a lot of people praying very, very hard, and all the prayers were answered." Providence Sister Marie Kevin Tighe, who was the vice postulator of St. Mother Theodore's sainthood cause, said she enjoyed seeing the baby during a recent visit at the motherhouse. "It was wonderful to see this beautiful child looking so healthy and behaving so normally at her young age and seeming to have no health problems," Sister Marie Kevin said. "It's a joy to have another little Anne Therese named in honor of St. Mother Theodore. The whole family is so faith-filled." She added, "I'm eager to read the formal medical report about the baby. We have received a number of reported favors since the canonization and are busy trying to document them all.

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