When Songo Wawa of Greenbelt, Maryland, was five months pregnant in fall 2023, she went to Sibley Memorial Hospital for what she and her husband, Derrick, thought was a typical fetal scan. But doctors noticed their unborn son, Asante, was “missing” a diaphragm. He was diagnosed with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), which occurs when a hole does not close during development of a baby’s diaphragm, causing organs in the abdomen — such as the intestines, stomach and liver — to push through the hole, crowding the lungs and preventing them from developing completely. The condition can have serious complications, and it can be deadly.

“When you are hit in the face with this, you want to crumble,” Songo Wawa says. She and Asante needed further care at the Johns Hopkins Center for Fetal Therapy.

Ahmet Alexander Baschat, MB.B.Ch.B.A.O., the center’s director, performed a surgery on Asante while he was still in the womb, during which a balloon was placed in Asante’s windpipe to allow his lungs to expand. The balloon was removed a few weeks later.

Songo went into labor while 34 weeks pregnant, and Asante was born Jan. 5, 2024. He was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center for specialized care. When 5 days old, Asante had a second procedure. Shaun Michael Kunisaki, M.D., M.Sc., director of the fetal program in the Division of General Pediatric Surgery, and pediatric surgeon Alejandro Vera Garcia, M.D., performed the surgery to fix Asante’s congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Though Asante required the assistance of additional oxygen and a feeding tube following the surgery, his diaphragm was completely repaired.

Asante, now a 1-year-old who loves Sesame Street and jumping on trampolines, no longer routinely needs oxygen support and can eat by mouth. He follows up regularly with Kunisaki and a team of doctors at Johns Hopkins Medicine, including a pulmonologist and cardiologist. Asante also receives physical therapy.

“We are ambassadors of Johns Hopkins, not by choice, but they’ve become an extension of our family,” Songo says. “They’ve touched our lives in ways you can’t even imagine.”