“Superglue Baby” makes super recovery

OLATHE, Kan.– An Olathe baby is known around the world as the “Superglue Baby.” She’s believed to be the first baby to have bleeding in the brain stopped with superglue. Some things about her story haven’t been shared until now. There was danger even after the procedure.

Ashlyn Julian is her parents’ perfect three-month-old.

“She really is. If you didn’t know she’d been through everything, you wouldn’t know,” said her mother, Gina Julian.

A few weeks after birth, Ashlyn suffered a hemorrhage in her brain from an aneurysm, a bulging vessel. It’s very rare in a newborn.

“Many people just die as a result of it. They never even make it to the hospital,” said Dr. Alan Reeves, a neuroradiologist at the University of Kansas Hospital

Doctors there couldn’t thread their normal tools into such tiny vessels to seal the leak. Ashlyn suffered a second hemorrhage.

“She turned gray and we watched her heart rate just keep dropping,” said Gina.

Doctors needed an emergency solution. It was superglue — delivered through a catheter. It sealed the leak.

Ashlyn’s story gained attention around the world. What you didn’t hear about was just how much danger remained. She was on a 21-day watch.

“To make sure she didn’t have a seizure, didn’t have a stroke. There were neuro checks every hour. And the doctors emphasizing, she could still die. This could still kill her,” said Gina.

Dr. Reeves said patients can have “incredible difficulties” in recovering from a hemorrhage.

But Ashlyn has had no more trouble. She’s meeting all her developmental milestones.

“We’re starting to sleep a little better at night, let’s put it that way,” said her father, Jared Julian.

The Julians will sleep even better after an MRI in September to see if the aneurysm is gone.

To others, Ashlyn is the “Superglue Baby.” But to her parents, she’s their super baby.

“She’s our little miracle, for sure,” said Gina.

The Julians said before the hemorrhage was found, their concerns about Ashlyn were dismissed by some doctors. The Julians had difficulty waking her and then she was screaming and vomiting. They tell other parents to be persistent when you know something is wrong