Meet Kid Captain Anjali Sahu
Anjali was diagnosed with Down Syndrome before she was born, but doctors at a local hospital knew there was more.
As Anjali Sahu’s health declined after her birth at a local hospital, she was transferred to University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, where doctors diagnosed her condition as duodenal stenosis and performed surgery.
The Atkins girl had been diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome, but that didn’t explain her decline.
“Anjali was throwing up, becoming smaller and weaker, and the doctors were having trouble diagnosing the cause beyond Down syndrome,” her mother, Carey Ann, recalls. “They thought it was just Down’s syndrome and having low muscle tone.”
The local hospital suggested a nasogastric (NG) tube to allow feeding directly into her stomach, but Carey Ann, a special education teacher, had her doubts.
“About two weeks before Anjali was born, we had a student in our building that had an NG tube (who) had been throwing up, and she ended up having a blockage in her bowel,” Carey Ann says. “So I knew the NG tube wouldn't necessarily fix the throwing up.”
Instead, Carey Ann and her husband, Saj, opted to transfer Anjali to UI Stead Family Children's Hospital when she was 3 weeks old.
“There was a team of expert doctors waiting for us when arrived at the UI,” Carey Ann remembers, adding that even before they arrived, a UI doctor suspected duodenal stenosis based on tests performed at the local hospital.
The condition, characterized by a narrowing in the first part of the small intestine, or duodenum, obstructs the digestive tract, preventing the proper absorption of food. By the time she arrived in Iowa City, Anjali weighed less than three pounds.
“When we got to the university, there was a radiologist waiting for us who specializes in diagnosing that particular disorder, and a surgeon,” Carey Ann recalls. “They had an idea that's what it was and had a plan, even before we arrived. So within an hour of being in the building, we had a diagnosis and a plan.”
“It was a rollercoaster day,” she adds. “The same day it went from ‘there's nothing more we can do for you,’ to ‘here's the plan and this is what we're going to do.’”
Though nervous to have their daughter undergo surgery, the couple was relieved.
“Babies around the country come to have that procedure done with the surgeon that we had,” Carey Ann says. “And so to have the expert right here, and after waiting so long with no answers and having an expert that does a lot of those surgeries, made me feel much more comfortable.”
Anjali spent about three weeks in the hospital before being discharged on Christmas Eve.
Since then, she has received other specialty care at UI Stead Family Children's Hospital, including otolaryngology care for issues with her ears.
Anjali, now 6, enjoys being around her friends at school, swimming lessons, and Miracle League baseball.
Saj is a UI alumnus and Anjali also loves the Hawkeyes and waving her Hawkeye pom poms, Carey Ann says.
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