Brody, born 2006

Our son, Brody, was born November 15, 2006. We had had complications with our first pregnancy, and lost a baby at six months. Due to this issue, I was followed by a perinatologist during the entire pregnancy with Brody, and there was never a suspicion of a heart defect. After Brody was born, we were surprised to hear that the pediatrician heard a murmur and wanted a pediatric cardiologist follow up. The echo determined he had Truncus Arteriosus, and our world caved with fear.

 

We went to Miami Children's Hospital where Brody had surgery at two weeks old. Although the surgery went well, he came out "still open" due to swelling, and the first 24 hours were very scary with his bleeding and heart rate. The surgeon, Dr. Redmond Burke, made the call to put Brody back on the heart-lung machine for eight hours, to give his heart a rest. After that break, Brody stabilized and he seemed to sail through the balance of recovery. We went home after 10 days post surgery.

 

Since that day, Brody has done tremendously well. His size and health have been normal, and developmentally he seems advanced. I believe God game him a little extra to balance out for the challenge around his heart condition! He did have a catheterization at six months, where they placed a stent into his right pulmonary artery as it was narrowing. This was a 24 hour hospital stay and he was normal the day after he was home.

 

Our life is rich with Brody, he appears and behaves completely normal and if you didn't see his brave heart scar on his chest, you wouldn't know he was a heart baby. However, a day doesn't go by that my husband and I don't wonder about the future, as he will have to have conduit replacement surgeries, and we don't look forward to that day. But, like all other families have mentioned, we live everyday to the fullest and feel that as strong as Brody is, when his time comes for surgery, he will be ready. Thank you for reading and God Bless all these children, as well as the amazing caregivers.

 

Story by Brody's mom, Holly - Florida