Wearing a special pink shield to protect her chest after extensive surgery to place her heart inside her body, a three-month old Texas baby has been released from the hospital. 

"It's been a blessing to finally say we're going home after three and a half months," Ashley Cardenas, mother of Audrina Cardenas, said.

She was born with more than a third of her heart outside of her body - a rare and often fatal heart condition known as Ectopia Cordis.

Doctors at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston performed surgery almost immediately, working for six hours to create a cavity to fit her tiny, beating heart and then covering it with skin from other parts of her body.

Three months later, she must wear a special shield to protect her heart. At some point, she'll have to return for more surgery.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.