Nick's Heart Surgery Fundraiser

This coming December brings upon a huge obstacle for my 16 year old brother. Born with a heart defect, Nicholas has been monitored his whole life. This past month after his latest testing, his cardiologists have determined that they need to replace the aortic valve in his heart, which means he will be having open heart surgery.

Nick is a big music lover. As a Junior in high school, Nick currently has a lead role in the High School Musical “Sister Act”. He is an amazing singer, participating in Chorale, Chamber Singers, & “OffBeats”, an acapella group that he is currently managing. He has taught himself how to play guitar. and is already working on a few of his own songs. Nick is also a baritone sax player, in both Jazz and Concert Band.

Nick’s dream is to go to trade school to be an Auto Mechanic, and he pushes for that dream everyday. He isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and he almost always has a tool bag on his side and grease marks on his face.

Please help my family with upcoming expenses like doctor’s bills, co-pays, travel costs, and whatever else might occur. My mom will be taking time off from work to care for him at home after the surgery. Any support will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Update: Many have been asking about what is going on with Nick Watts, so I will try to give you a little bit more information.

Nick was born with what they call "a mild valvular aortic stenosis with a mild regurgitation", meaning that his aortic valve is thick and ridgy, and does not close properly. Therefore, he has a back flow of blood, "regurgitation", that pumps back into the left side of his heart. Two of his valves fused together or never separated during my pregnancy, so he has a bicuspid valve instead of a normal tricuspid valve.

We knew at some point this would need to be fixed, but we didn't expect it to be so soon. Nick has seen 3 different cardiologists since he was 2 weeks old, and at first, they thought he would make it to be 30-35 before anything would need to be done. Unfortunately, that is not the case for Nick. His heart and valves have changed pretty drastically over the last year and it needs to be fixed soon.

His aortic valve has gotten much thicker, to the point of needing medication, and the regurgitation has become severe. Because of the regurgitation of the blood that is going back into the left side of his heart, the heart has become very enlarged on the left side. Imagine pouring a quart of milk into a quart sized container - it is the same volume, so it will easily fit. The back flow of blood in Nick's heart is causing 1/2 of that quart to go back into the left side of the heart and then another quart is trying to pump through at the same time. This means that his heart has enlarged because it now needs to hold 1 1/2 quarts instead of the 1 quart, making his heart work harder than normal.

Other than being more tired than usual, Nick has been symptom free and has been able to do most activities. The surgeon wants to do the surgery now, while he is young and healthy (besides the heart, of course), and is symptom free at this time. This should make for a quicker recovery time, as we know that kids bounce back much easier than us older people.

He is scheduled to go for surgery the first week of December, with the hopes of being able to have the "Ross" procedure done. This surgery would mean that Nick would have no restrictions, no blood thinners, and would be able to do things that he has not been able to do for 16 years.

There is a possibility that he will need to have a mechanical valve instead, that would require him to be on the blood thinners for the rest of his life, and he will still have the restrictions. We are praying that the Ross will work for him, but will not know until the surgeon gets in there.

I will be taking a family medical leave of absence to care for him at home until he is healthy enough to go back to school. He will return a few hours at a time, as he is able, and I will tutor/home school him until he is back full time.

We would appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers, thank you! <3

Tammy
Nick's mom <3

We want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read this, for sending thoughts and prayers, for donating, or just for sharing. Thank you! <3