Helping a family in need

After our 20 week anatomy sonogram, we not only learned the gender, but that there was something not right with Emerson heart. Two echocardiograms later, Brother was diagnosed with HLHS (hypoplastic left heart syndrome). This news was not anything we could have ever imagined or prepared for.

Emerson will undergo 3 surgeries to ‘rewire’ his heart to function only using his left ventricle 

At 2 days old, he had his first open heart surgery, The Norwood Procedure. Doctors cheered for him as he was a ‘star student’. After 3 weeks of recovery, he was home with us. But our job was not over. During his interstage (the delicate time between his first and second surgery), our daily tasks included checking his vitals, weighing him, fortifying his feeds, and administering medicine. We became nurses overnight. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Not long after being home, he was admitted again. This time the doctors had to put stents in to help with narrowing. He spent a week inpatient to recover.