Tanner News

From the day she was born, 3-year-old Georgia Minor has been defying the odds.

On Jan. 15, 2017, she was delivered via emergency C-section at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton.

She needed immediate resuscitation, and doctors soon discovered that she had three heart defects, severe white matter on her brain and facial palsy.

She was a tiny bundle, weighing only 4 pounds, 5 ounces — but every inch of her was a fighter.

To her parents, Kimberly and Patrick Minor, this was a devastating revelation and one of the scariest moments of their lives.

But through it all, they were never alone.

“I had never experienced anything like that before,” Kimberly said. “Through the entire experience, the nurses at Tanner were amazing to us. They were compassionate and understanding of how scared I was, and they helped keep my husband calm. They were so incredible during a time when we were so overwhelmed.”

Georgia had no other respiratory issues, so she was admitted to the nursery as an inpatient for 10 days at Tanner.

After Kimberly was discharged, she and Patrick, who live in Newnan, stayed in the maternity center as much as possible to stay close to Georgia.

Kimberly said it seemed like as long as she and Patrick were with her, Georgia’s health improved.

And true enough, she was soon learning to breast feed and bottle feed. She was gaining weight, continuing to get stronger, and eventually passed her car seat test — her final test before being able to go home and meet her three older brothers: twins Nolan and Gavin, 16, and Jonathan, 14.

Georgia was later diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a rare genetic chromosome disorder. Studies show that infants carried to term with Trisomy 18 experience higher mortality rates.

But that was not the case for baby Georgia, and now Kimberly shares Georgia’s story to help spread awareness about Trisomy 18.

Every year on her birthday, she and her mom make a special visit to the maternity center at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton to see the nurses who cared for Georgia and her family when they were in the hospital.

“I think if it weren’t for the nurses at Tanner, I don’t know that my daughter would be here,” said Kimberly. “They did an amazing job taking care of her. A lot of hospitals don’t always do all the things that Tanner did for us. It’s just awesome to know that we can still touch base with those nurses and that we made an impact.”