News : Maxine Vrba Carnival to benefit U of I Children's Hospital January 26

The Maxine Vrba Carnival will be held this weekend iin Maxine's honor. photo: John and Maxine Vrba

Maxine Vrba was a special little lady. Born on October 30, 2000, at the Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Brein Osborn remembers that day like all new moms, it was a day filled with excitement and joy.

Following a normal pregnancy and delivery with nothing out of the ordinary, Brein and Maxine were able to spend the night together like any new mom and baby.

It was the day after that Brein remembers as one of the most traumatic days of her life.

Waking to find her baby had been transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals without notice, and unable to be transferred herself, she immediately checked herself out of the hospital to be with her daughter.

When Maxine was born the doctors assumed that Maxine had a heart murmur as about 1 in 100 babies do. Over time, most babies outgrow the condition and the child is fine.

The doctors soon discovered that Maxine had a condition that has affected only 3 other people in the world. She was born with Aortic and Pulmonary Stenosis and Insufficiencies, simply put she had a heart valve problem. Her heart was good, but the valves weren't.

Aortic stenosis occurs when the aortic valve didn't form properly. A normal valve has three parts (leaflets or cusps), but a stenotic valve may have only one cusp or two cusps, which are thick and stiff, rather than thin and flexible.

Maxine's valves were stiff and weren't able to push blood in the right direction, but instead, blood pushed in the wrong direction causing a "regurgitation" in the heart.

This was just the beginning of Maxine's struggles as a child.

At 18 months doctors discovered that she had a brain tumor in the area of her brain which affected her motor skills. Fortunately, they were able to operate and remove the tumor, but that in turn left Maxine struggling to relearn the ability to walk.

Brein laughed as she recalled that Maxine recovered completely from that surgery. Being a typical toddler, Brein said in order to get anything done she had to find a way to contain Maxine.

Maxine's condition was a constant struggle for the doctors. Because of the rarity of the condition, many times they were learning as they treated Maxine.

They referred to her as their "Superhero".

Maxine had 7 open heart surgeries and countless other procedures. Brein explained that "Before every procedure, she would ask, "If I do this could it help save babies' lives?" I'd tell her, 'yes' and she'd immediately say, "Well then I'm doing it!" said her mother Brein."This beautiful young woman was so amazing in so many ways. A lot of people didn't even realize the extent of her medical conditions, because she was always so positive and pretended like nothing ever happened! Throwing hands up in the air and hollering 'I'm good, I've got this!' throughout her whole life"  Maxine had also lost her dad, John, through a car accident when she was barely 13 years old. Before her last surgery, in which the doctors performed two procedures that had never been done before, Maxine looked at it this way. "If I don't make it, I get to be with dad. If things go well, I get to be with mom" unfortunately John won.

Following her last surgery, because of complications, she didn't recover.

She passed away on November 26, 2018 at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

She would have graduated this year with the Center Point-Urbana High School Class of 2019.

Maxine pioneered the way for multiple heart procedures that were done at the University of Iowa Stead family Children's Hospital. She also had the first Melody valve put in the aortic position for a child at Boston Children's Hosptial.

Maxine always wanted a carnival for her graduation party, but instead there will be one held in her honor to support the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital. Her mom said, "without them, we wouldn't have had 18 years with Maxine."

So this Saturday, from 2 until 9:00 p.m., there will be a Carnival Fundraiser for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital will be held at the Palo Community Center.

There will also be a silent auction that will end at 8:00 p.m., a raffle drawing every hour, Maxine T-shirts, bracelets and dog tags.

The typical carnival food will be sold as well. There will be popcorn, cotton candy, snow cones and more!

Carnival games will be available complete with prizes, there will be bounce houses, balloons, face painting and more!

Tickets will be $1.00 each or $25.00 for unlimited bouncing!

Memorial donations may be given in her name to the family through Jan. 26, 2019, or at Maxine’s benefit directly for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Maxine’s honor.