Simple blood pressure check detects rare heart defect in Baldwin County girl: Heart of the Gulf
FOLEY, Ala. (WKRG) — Everything about Abigail Raley of Baldwin County seemed vibrant and healthy until her kindergarten checkup.
“They took blood pressure in her right arm, and it was severely high,” Abigail’s mother, Christy Thompson, said. “Took blood pressure in her left arm, and it was severely low, and they went to check her pulses in her legs, and they were very faint.”
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A simple blood pressure check led to the stunning diagnosis, Coarctation of the Aorta. Abigail’s heart valve was too narrow to allow normal blood flow to her body.
“You go numb for a little while, and I know her dad and I both did and the grandparents as well, sitting there thinking, you know, our life is about to go in a different direction than what we had planned for her,” Thompson said.
They went to Birmingham where doctors could fix her heart, but that meant open heart surgery on their 6-year-old princess.
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“What I mostly remember was how painful it was,” Abigail said. “You know, afterward, it was, it hurt.”
Within a week, she was back home in Baldwin County with her family sharing their journey with others.
In 2014, Abigail was the Face of Heart for The American Heart Association’s Baldwin Art for Heart Gala. Her artwork sold for $1,000 for AHA.
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Ten years later, her testimony of how funding medical research changes lives is only more compelling. Now at 16 years old, the Foley High School sophomore has been a cheerleader, softball player and competitive gymnast, enjoying a life without limitations.
“If they had not caught it that day by a simple blood pressure check, then she may have been one of the children that gets into her teen years and falls out on the basketball court or on a football field because it happens, and these kids go their entire life not knowing that they have an issue that could have been repaired and fixed,” Thompson said.
She said her aunt died from the same condition as Abigail’s because it went undetected for too long. Another reason, Art for Heart is so special to their family.
“It makes people aware, you know, stuff happens,” Abigail said. “You know, you don’t. You could be so, like, unaware that something is going is going on.”
Abigail’s mother discussed her family’s experience with AHA.
“We’ve been able to reach out to so many more people,” Thompson said. “It’s opened so many doors for us to feel close and have that connection with other families, and I think that’s the biggest thing that we can do as us, is to give back and to be that support that we had during her journey.”
To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the American Heart Association is inviting its past Faces of Heart to be guests for Saturday’s Baldwin Art for Heart Gala, a reunion of sorts for Abigail and other honorees.
WKRG is the media sponsor on Saturday, April 13, at the Coastal Arts Center of Orange Beach.
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