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richmondreview.com
REVIEW ESTABLISHED 1932
FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2012
40 PAGES
Labour of love grants second miracle Richmond woman comes to aid of a heart-transplant survivor who learned pregnancy was too risky by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter
Martin van den Hemel photo Barb Nimchuk served as the surrogate mom for Katie Welsh and her husband Mathew Welsh, who are now the proud parents of Charlie Ethan, born May 29 at Richmond Hospital.
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Katie Welsh has truly lived a charmed life, with two miracles now to her name: one the life-giving organ beating inside her chest, the other always in her heart when not cuddled against it. It was 25 years ago this week that Welsh became Canada’s first child recipient of a heart transplant at Pittsburgh’s Children’s Hospital. “Did I get it?” seven-year-old Katie said to her father Peter Luxton when she woke up that Thursday, June 11, 1987. The previous fall, Welsh had been diagnosed with a serious heart problem at B.C. Children’s Hospital, a virus having attacked her heart and its surrounding tissue, necessitating a transplant. She and her family moved to Pittsburgh to await a transplant at the city’s internationally renowned transplant centre, where it took three months before a suitable heart became available. Welsh was on the receiving end once again, but was fully awake when she witnessed her second miracle, the birth of Charlie Ethan Welsh, who came into the world on May 29 at Richmond Hospital, tipping the scales at five pounds, 15 ounces. While Welsh’s first miracle came courtesy of surgeons, science and financial help from the David Foster Foundation, the latest was thanks to Welsh’s coworker, Barb Nimchuk, and the magi-
cians at Genesis Fertility Centre, who perform gestational carrier surrogacy for 15 to 20 couples annually. Welsh is a certified dental assistant at Ironwood Dental Centre, where Nimchuk works as a dental hygienist. Because of the regimen of medications Welsh needs to take, and what’s known as drug-induced kidney disease, she was unable to carry Charlie inside herself.
“I believe that giving back wherever you can is a good example to the kids.” - Barb Nimchuk Enter mother-of-three and coworker Nimchuk, who learned of Welsh’s situation at work, and offered up her help, which turned out to be her uterus. Nimchuk recalls seeing Welsh crying at work one day, and inquiring about it. Welsh had just been married, and was wanting to start a family, and inquired of her doctors whether pregnancy was safe considering her heart transplant. They said getting pregnant could prove fatal. So Nimchuk stepped up, and offered to assist in the search for options. “I believe that giving back wherever you can is a good example to the kids,” said Nimchuk. See Page 3
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