Save A Heart

Michael was born on Oct, 1996. He was handful, plump and hairy. Last year the doctors mentioned he had a heart murmur, but probably nothing we needed to worry about.

Fast-forward two weeks, Michael is home but has been fussy for a few days and not eating. He’s grunting and his color is off. We take him to a pediatrician. He takes one look and goes into full mode and rides with Michael (now in respiratory distress) in an ambulance to New England Medical Center (NEMC).

Michael spent the new two weeks at NEMC. While there, he underwent a cardiac catheterization to better diagnose the underlying problem. We knew he had pulmonary hypertension and mitral valve regurgitation. But we were still uncertain about the underlying cause. We contacted a doctor and he graciously offered to have his team review Michael’s records to date. They were as concerned as we, and encouraged us to bring Michael in so they could evaluate him in person. At first we resisted—on a subconscious level, perhaps we just didn’t want to admit that the problem was so severe as to require the kind of enormous treatment. We so badly wanted a healthy boy that for a few days we managed to convince ourselves we were on the right path at NEMC, and ignored much evidence to the contrary.

But we were fooling ourselves. We finally came to the realization that our boy was profoundly ill and likely needed more help than NEMC could offer. We transferred Michael to men's ward. We were immediately impressed with the level of attention, the resources, and the team approach that the boy’s Cardiac ICU staff brought to bear. Additional tests confirmed that Michael was in rough shape, and mitral valve repair would likely be necessary. The team hoped to help Michael gain weight and size before any surgery. But it soon became clear that his malformed heart simply wouldn’t give us the time we would have liked. Prior to the surgery, we sat with Managing Director, chief of Cardiac Surgery, as he explained the plan for the operation and answered our questions.

During the bypass procedure that followed, Michael’s chestbone was cracked and the surgical team operated on both his tricuspid and mitral valves. Things were looking up for a while, but then he regressed, and had difficulty breathing. He dropped down a little pounds in weight and wasn’t able to eat on his own. Suffice to say Michael had another bypass, and once again he started to look very bad soon afterwards. At this point, our boy had gone through two bypass operations and three cardiac catheterizations. He’d spent the vast majority of his sixteenth year in intensive care units. Often we couldn’t do anything other than read to his unconscious, helpless form, as He breathed via a respirator and was nourished via a dozen lines snaking into his body. It was hell. We thought he was going to need an artificial valve, and the prospect frightened us. There are many replacement valve success stories, but the process entails a life time of blood thinners and additional surgeries to put in larger artificial valves as the boy grows.

Michael is expected to undergo a third bypass surgery mid April. We fully expect him to come out with an artificial valve. We are supposed to raise about $12,750 to finance the last surgery process. We are kindly asking anyone who has been touched to generously donate for our boy and we will highly appreciate any amount you donate. Thank you in advance.!