DERRY TOWNSHIP, DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. - A 1-year-old girl is going home for the first time from Penn State Children's Hospital after being born with an extremely rare condition.
Ramiah Martin was born without a trachea and she is one of the 11 known cases in the world. A team at Penn State Children's Hospital was able to keep her alive for the first six months of her life before they were able to perform a surgery. In that surgery surgeons implanted a 3-D printed device to serve as a replacement for her missing trachea.
Wednesday, Ramiah's parents and three sisters were excited to get her home.
"I'm just looking forward to her joining the rest of her siblings," said Robert Martin, Ramiah's father. "Her crawling, walking and pretty much going from there.
The team of doctors helping Ramiah survive this condition believe what they learned could potentially save others with this life-threatening and very rare condition.
