Faith and medicine: A Jehovah's Witness family's journey to hope and healing for Baby Emma

Margareth Banegas and her husband, Byron, moved to LaPlace, Louisiana in mid-2023. Along with their shared Honduran heritage, Margareth and Byron are devout Jehovah’s Witnesses.  

When they decided to start a family about three years ago, they knew time wasn’t necessarily on their side. Margareth, then 39 (now 42), was considered by health care professionals to be “of advanced maternal age.” But she was determined to be a mother, and after two years of trying to conceive and two miscarriages, the couple turned to their faith.  

“What was going to be was going to be,” Margareth said in Spanish, with Byron translating. 

Their prayers were answered when Margareth learned she was pregnant with a baby girl right after they first moved to Louisiana. After the first trimester, they received a mixed bag of news from their local obstetrician. 

“My doctor told me that this pregnancy was going to be fine, but that our daughter would be born with Down syndrome. I tried to focus on the first part – that I would be able to carry the baby and that I didn’t have to worry about another miscarriage,” Margareth recalled. “But I never stopped worrying – not for a minute.” 

Over the next few months, there was some reason for concern. Tests showed that the baby was not getting enough oxygen in utero and doctors were able to reposition the placenta. Byron said he was relieved to learn the baby was no longer in distress after that procedure. The couple grew excited to welcome their first baby girl into the world.  

Their beautiful baby girl, Emma Luna, came into the world six weeks early via Cesarean section on February 2, 2024. She received care in the neonatal intensive care unit at a New Orleans hospital where she was born for what turned out to be a two-month stay. “At first, Emma needed some oxygen due to being born early. Her lungs were immature and needed to grow,” Dad explained.  

Emma’s breathing condition caused another challenge with feeding."She was unable to breathe and take the bottle at the same time,” Byron said, noting feeding time became quite difficult. Emma wasn’t getting enough nutrients and struggled to breathe. To resolve this, doctors performed a surgical procedure to improve her breathing and inserted a gastric feeding tube so she could be fed through a machine. 

Once the baby was breathing easier, the couple finally felt like they could let out a sigh of relief. However, more complications led them to seek out specialized care at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. 

Eventually doctors discovered something about Emma that they hadn’t caught before.  

“We found out the true cause of Emma’s health problem when doctors ran multiple tests at the hospital where she was born,” Byron said. “That’s when we learned Emma had a heart condition.” 

The parents were told their newborn needed heart surgery, and they began to talk with cardiologists and surgeons about the impending procedure. Shortly before the surgery was supposed to take place, the Banegas family found out something that made them step on the brakes – hard. 

Byron explained that the couple’s religious beliefs prohibit them from receiving blood transfusions. If a Jehovah’s Witness must undergo surgery, he said, the procedure must be “bloodless,” as the religion believes it is a sin to accept a blood transfusion.  

As Margareth explains: “The Bible clearly commands us to abstain from blood. God views blood as representing life, so (Jehovah’s Witnesses) avoid taking blood, not only in obedience to God, but also out of respect for him as ‘Giver of Life.’” 

She said Witnesses always seek the best possible medical care for themselves and their families. “When we have health problems, we go to doctors who have skill in providing medical and surgical care without blood,” she added. “We appreciate advancements that have been made in the medical field.” 

The family was prepared to consent to the surgery at the local hospital, but at the last moment, they learned a bloodless surgery couldn’t be guaranteed. 

“When they told us they could not guarantee that our religious beliefs would be honored,” Margareth said, “we asked them to delay the surgery so we could make a decision about what to do next.” 

An Elder from the couple’s Jehovah’s Witness congregation did some research and found out the family didn’t have to go far from home to have their faith and wishes for a bloodless surgery respected. All referrals pointed in one direction: Children’s Hospital New Orleans and, more specifically, Frank Pigula, MD, a pediatric congenital cardiac surgeon. 

Byron was very worried when he first learned about Emma’s heart condition. “I kept repeating in my mind, ‘Will she be OK? Will she make it?’ I couldn’t stop having negative thoughts,” Dad admitted. “We had never experienced a situation like this. We had been trying for so long to get pregnant and never thought that we might ever be faced with this kind of challenge.”  

Margareth quickly agreed, noting that everything changed the moment Dr. Pigula walked into their very first meeting. “From the moment he entered the room, we could see this was a man who knew what he was doing. We trusted him right away. We knew he would help us,” she said. 

“After hearing all types of excuses from the doctors at the other hospital about how and why they couldn’t guarantee a bloodless surgery, Dr. Pigula reassured us right away,” Byron said. “In fact, as soon as we met him and he started explaining what he was going to do, I actually interrupted him. I told him immediately that we wanted him to operate on Emma.” 

When their community Elder, who was present during the first visit at Children’s Hospital New Orleans, asked Dr. Pigula if he was willing to consult with surgeons who were experienced with bloodless surgery and more informed about the Jehovah Witness’ religious beliefs regarding healthcare, Dr. Pigula immediately agreed to a consultation. 

“We really appreciated Dr. Pigula’s willingness to do whatever he needed to do, to learn whatever he needed to learn,” Byron said.  

“When Dr. Pigula said he wanted to talk to whomever could help him best care for Emma, we knew this was the person we wanted to care for our baby,” Margareth added. 

On June 18, 2024, Dr. Pigula closed a ventricular septal defect (VSD) on Emma Luna. A VSD is a common heart defect, but when it is large enough it can lead to heart failure. In a baby, heart failure leads to poor feeding, rapid breathing and slow growth. Emma was suffering from all these problems, and surgery was recommended,” Dr. Pigula explained. “Closure of a VSD requires stopping the heart and opening it to sew a patch over the VSD. The use of the heart lung machine is required to support the body while the heart is stopped.” 

Respecting the Benagas’ religious beliefs and their request for bloodless surgery, Dr. Pigula enrolled Emma in the Children’s Hospital New Orleans’ Heart Center protocol for bloodless cardiac surgery. This protocol includes preoperative, operative and post operative steps. Three weeks before surgery, Emma received a medication to increase the production of red blood cells by her own body, fortifying her own blood count. 

“During the operation, the surgical team modified the heart lung machine to minimize dilution of her blood count during the surgery,” Dr. Pigula said. “Finally, after surgery, blood samples were reduced as much as safely possible to minimize blood loss. Using this integrated approach, Emma underwent safe and successful bloodless cardiac surgery.”  

During the six hours the baby was in the operating room, Mom and Dad were consistently reassured that everything was going well – thanks to a phone app supplied by Children’s Hospital New Orleans. 

“They have a really great system for how they keep in touch with parents during the surgery,” Byron explained. “From the moment they started the surgery, we were able to check into the app to see how Emma was doing,” he said. “Plus, we received text messages the whole time keeping us informed about how things were going in the OR.” 

Margareth said the constant communication was wonderful. “I was less worried because they were telling us what was going on. Of course, I was still so scared. But, Dr. Pigula made us feel reassured and we knew he had everything under control.” 

When the operation was over, Dr. Pigula met the parents in the waiting room with a big smile on his face. “He immediately told us it was ‘a perfect’ surgery,” Byron said. “He assured us they didn’t need any blood and, most importantly, that Emma did really well during the surgery.” 

Margareth said she felt more confident in her daughter’s complete recovery every time Dr. Pigula came to reassure them that Emma was doing well and that he expected her to stay on course. 

Emma was discharged from the cardiac intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital New Orleans after only one week. That was enough time for the parents to see how “wonderful” the nurses were. 

“I saw how the nurses were taking care of Emma like she was their own baby,” Mom added. “We were asking the nurses questions and they kept saying they would be right there if anything should happen. But they also kept reassuring us by saying how well Emma was doing. And they taught us how to manage her G-tube, as well.” 

Mom and Dad are so happy to report Emma is doing very well at home. They are looking forward to the day when her G-tube will be removed. This will happen when the baby is strong enough to take the bottle completely. 

Mandy Nasworthy, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Hospital New Orleans, will continue to follow Emma’s progress for the foreseeable future.  

“My hope for Emma is that she is going to be healthy and keep growing,” Byron said. “I am so excited to watch her grow. All we want is for her to be a regular kid. She may learn things a bit slower than other kids but we can’t wait to see all that she is capable of accomplishing.” 

For more information on the cardiology program at Children’s Hospital New Orleans, please visit: https://www.chnola.org/services/heart-center/heart-center-programs/