Katrina Anne Marie Campbell is 9 months old, with chubby cheeks, silken hair and dancing eyes.

She babbles, grins and tosses her toys, just like any other happy baby.

But Katrina, the daughter of Kelvin and Jody Campbell of Lafayette, has a life-threatening congenital heart defect called "double outlet right ventricle" or DORV. It occurs once in about every 10,000 live births.

She has had heart surgery and a heart catheterization already. In March or April, she will undergo the first of two open-heart surgeries that she will need before she turns 2.

"There are a lot of uncertainties in her future," says Kelvin, 36, who works with developmentally disabled adults. "It's a progressive heart disease. Eventually her heart will give out and she will need a transplant.

"You think, 'Will we survive her?' " he says. " ... You want the forecast to be the best it can be, but you don't want to disappoint yourself, either."

The family has come to the realization "that we will just enjoy her," he says, whether their time together is measured in months, years or decades.

"Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day" is observed every February, and the Campbells shared their story to help educate the public about a health problem that affects 1 million Americans.

Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defects, and the leading cause of death from birth defects. Some are curable, and some are not.

"Few people realize more (U.S.) babies are born with congenital heart defects -- approximately 40,000 -- than with spina bifida, Down syndrome and hearing loss," says Jeanne Imperati, of North Haven., Conn., mother of a child born with a heart defect and originator of the awareness day. "Heart defects are sometimes overlooked and not routinely diagnosed in newborns."

Too often, symptoms go unrecognized: rapid breathing during sleep, poor weight gain, irritability, a sweaty head and fatigue during feeding, according to the Congenital Heart Information Network, headquartered in Yardley, Pa.

Many cases of sudden infant death and death among young athletes are caused by undiagnosed congenital heart defects, Jody says.

The Campbells' sons, Cody, 6, and Kelvin, 4, have healthy hearts, but an ultrasound detected Katrina's heart defect before she was born.

In a normal heart, the right ventricle delivers blood to the pulmonary artery and the left ventricle delivers blood to the aorta. In a child with DORV, both the pulmonary artery and the aorta arise from the right ventricle.

"It was devastating," says Kelvin's mother, Sadie Brooks-Durphey, of St. Louis. "It was not like anything that had ever happened in our family before. There was a question of whether (Jody) could deliver her."

"There was a lot of consoling between the two of us," Kelvin says, but, "we decided we'd do everything we could to make sure she came into this world. We decided to love her as she was, and forget about the bad that could be."

He and Jody resolved to do all they could to save the baby. They rejected the other two options: abortion or "comfort care," which would have let Katrina die peacefully.

Still, a cloud darkened what would have been a completely joyous time.

Because Katrina's prognosis was so tenuous, family members didn't know whether to have a baby shower.

She survived the delivery, surgery to create a new hole in the heart and a catherization, during which a tube was inserted to ease blood flow. She breathed with the help of a ventilator for four days, and spent two weeks in the hospital.

"I felt like I went through the labor myself," says Theresa Atwood, of Lafayette, Jody's mother. "Not having the baby, but carrying the burden."

The Campbells were told that Katrina might have to use a feeding tube until she was 2, because it would be difficult for her to eat and breathe simultaneously.

Katrina removed the feeding tube herself when she was 3 1/2-months old. She receives physical therapy and occupational therapy, and still cannot eat solid foods, or sleep through the night. She eats three or four ounces of food every three or four hours, around the clock.

She is undersized for her age, but mentally bright. She recently started to crawl, but because of her compromised heart, it exhausts her. She can't pull herself to a standing position on her own, and she must be given medicine twice daily.

Katrina is susceptible to infection and disease, so she usually stays at home, tended to by one or both of her parents. Jody, 26, is a certified nurse's aide.

Kelvin says that he couldn't bear to leave her with a sitter and run the risk of her going into cardiac arrest.

Even under the best of circumstances, Katrina will always have health problems and require medications. Still, Jody says she's a constant joy and a "miracle baby."

Katrina's brothers dote on her, and Brooks-Durphey drives from St. Louis once or twice a month to see her.

"She's a gift," she says. "She has amazed all of us. We expected her to have to be on oxygen."

The open heart surgeries, if successful, will allow her to lead a more normal life, but her heart will still have to work harder than it should and it will likely have to be replaced someday.

"We will face the issue of when to put her on a (heart) donor list," Kelvin says. "You don't want her to be playing at school and suddenly collapse."

Atwood says that the whole ordeal has been a testament to how much strength and character the Campbells have.

"I'm very proud of my daughter and my son-in-law," she says. "Their attitude, their work, and their values have all come together."

"You love people for however long you have them," Atwood says, "whether it's two years or 90 years."

FYI