When
Katherine Heigl first introduced her daughter Naleigh to the world, she confessed that the little girl she adopted from South Korea had a medical condition that "made the adoption process much quicker."
Katherine is now opening up about little Naleigh's heart condition and admits the adoption agency "wanted to get her to us as quickly as possible," so Katherine and her hubby Josh Kelly can give her the medical attention she deserves.
According to the
National Enquirer, Naleigh was born with a hole in her heart and had an operation soon after she was born to fix her heart defect.
A source tells the tabloid, "Doctors said the congenital heart defect had to be treated quickly to save the baby's life."
If Katherine and Josh wanted to adopt a healthy child with no medical conditions, they were looking at a possible four year waiting list. While most celebrities can skip ahead in line, there's still a long waiting period involved.
Katherine told
Ellen Degeneres earlier this month that they were keen on adoption a child from Korea because her sister was also adopted from the country.
Katherine said, “It's been a big part of my life and my family. My sister is Korean and my parents adopted her back in the 70s and so I just always knew that this is something I wanted to do. I just wanted to make sure that I was marrying a guy who understands that this was going to have to happen. Not everybody is down with that, not everybody thinks that.”
Fortunately when celebrities like Katherine adopt a baby with special needs, it starts a trend. “We’ve seen a lot more interest in special needs babies,” says Nancy Dykstra-Powers, director of Bethany Christian Services, which she says is the largest adoption agency in the country.
“I used to have a really hard time placing babies with disabilities but there's a real demand for them now.”
Little Naleigh is so cute, we just can't wait to see her grow up before our eyes. And we think it's so great that Katherine had a heart big enough to adopt a little girl with special needs. Kudos to her!
