Helen was taken to the newborn nursery and one hour later began to look pale; her vitals were dropping and she had to be put on a respirator. During this time, my husband and I were told only that we had, "a very sick baby." They called Children's Memorial Hospital and got in touch with Doctor Backer. He immediately diagnosed the congenital heart defect, total anomalous pulmonary venous connection, Type 1, obstructed. He said that she needed open heart surgery that day. The transport team did their best to provide me with enough time to say goodbye as they took my first born child to another hospital only hours after she was born.

The doctor turned to me and said, “there is something wrong with your babies heart. I will draw it to explain to you.” As she started drawing the diagram, I knew it was serious.  I asked her, “is there a treatment?”   She said, “yes, but only with open heart surgery.” My world just fell before me. I picked up my baby and held her so close and cried. I then asked, “if she doesn’t have the surgery then what?” The doctor replied, “she will die.” At that point, I gave my daughter to the nurse and I ran to the toilet to be sick.

On February 11, 1978 a healthy baby girl weighing nine pounds, six ounces was born. She was the youngest of three children, born to very healthy and happy young parents. With no immediately apparent complications, Elizabeth was presumed normal. Unfortunately, this would change and alter Elizabeth's entire life forever. After a week of vomiting, falling asleep after only two ounces of feedings and breathing fast, Elizabeth was referred and admitted to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago for the first of many heart surgeries. Her fundamental diagnosis was a single ventricle, DILV (double inlet left ventricle).

I would like to introduce you to my “Hero”  my son, Alex Morgan. Alex was born on December 3rd 2001. We knew at 7 months pregnant that Alex had a heart defect. We later found out it was Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia. He also has a chromosome abnormality called DiGeorge syndrome which affects his immune system. What we didn’t know was that Alex would need to undergo several surgeries in the next 3 years of his life. He has had 7 surgeries so far, three of them heart surgeries.

I was born on November 7th, 1979 in Kearney, Nebraska without any immediately apparent complications.  After a few days at home my father, a family physician, noticed I often had a rapid heart rate and was perspiring after minimal activity. My parents took me in for more tests and at the conclusion of the exam the pediatrician told my mom, "pick up your baby and give him a kiss, we are getting a plane to fly him to Omaha for immediate surgery."

Two weeks late, my son was delivered by emergency c-section on December 2, 2004 because his heart rate was dropping. My husband watched the whole thing and when Harrison came out, he did cry but looked very blue. He asked if that was normal and they said they would like for the baby to pink up so they were smacking his feet. They brought him to me for a kiss and then rushed him to the NICU. They explained to my husband that he may have a heart defect.

Colin Edward Brophy was born December 6^th 2006 at Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee Wisconsin.  Although we live in Chicago, we decided to have our baby at Froedert because at our 20 week ultrasound our child was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome, Transposition of the Great Arteries, and Coarctation of the Aorta.  Needless to say these diagnoses’ came as a crushing blow to us as first time parents.  No parent wants to hear there is something wrong with their child.  After much research and input from dear friends in the medical field, we decided to have Colin at Froedert so that he could receive the care he needed for his heart immediately. 

Mia Grace Mozo was born September  20, 2005 with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. When I was about 20 weeks pregnant I went to the OB for a routine ultrasound exam. That week the OB called saying he couldn't see all 4 chambers of the heart and wanted me to drive to Children's of Milwaukee (WI)/Froedert, so that a specialist could perform an review the ultrasound. After the ultrasound with the specialist, the specialist along with care specialist pulled my husband and I into a room where they delivered the news.

Lauren Pais was born on June 8, 1988 at Highland Park Hospital. Six hours later, she was rushed in an ambulance to Children’s Memorial Hospital after being diagnosed with hypoplastic right heart syndrome, a hole in her heart, and a murmer. She had 3 corrective surgeries at Children’s Memorial Hospital by her 3rd birthday. Now, at the age of 20, Lauren is a junior at Indiana University studying communications and fundraising.

In January, 2005, our unborn child was diagnosed with Truncus Arteriosus, an uncommon, complex heart defect. On May 9, 2005, our daughter Charlotte was born (4 weeks early). Within twelve hours the Children’s Service Board Transport Team of Children’s Memorial Hospital had transferred her to Children’s and she was in the warm and competent care of the CV and PICU teams.

Izabella Rose Brancato was born May 19th, 2006 via c-section. You might say this may have saved her life. When she was born she was beautiful, pink and a great apgar. The next morning, our doctor came for a rountine baby well check. She said Izabella had a heart murmer but most babies out- grow it. We thought nothing since Izabella's papa had a heart murmer. The next day, same routine but she said the rumor was louder. She said she was sure it was fine but she would rather be safe then sorry. We are so glad we have such a great doctor.

On October 28, 2005, Trevor James was born. By all accounts he was a healthy young man. He was my biggest baby yet, at seven and a half pounds. After a few relaxing days at the hospital together, we left together to introduce him to his new home and two other “moms”…his siblings, Kelsey, 3 ½, and Emily, 1 ½. Life with three was remarkably easy at first. This was largely due to the fact that Trevor, unlike his sisters, liked to sleep quite a lot. Unfortunately, my husband and I did not recognize his sleepiness as a symptom of a greater problem.

You can always learn a lot from your children. They teach you to have fun. They show you the simple pleasures in life. They teach you how to do their math homework. They give you joy, show their unconditional love, make you laugh, inspire you to try new things. Did you ever think they would teach you how to use a feeding tube? Did you think they would teach you how to measure medicine in milliliters and know the complex function of each drug? Did you know they could teach you about strength, patience, hope and success all through an open-heart surgery? They can.

My daughter Reese was born on December 10, 2005. One of the nurses detected a heart murmur upon examining her after her birth. We were told that it was probably nothing, but we needed to get a few tests run. A tumor was detected in the pumping chamber of her heart. The tumor was very unstable and it obstructed her blood flow. The fear was that the tumor could have broken off and flowed into her aeorta, which would have meant the worst imaginable scenario.

On August 11, 2005 we had a beautiful baby boy, Joshua Bennett Paul. About 4 hours after our baby was born, the nurse and a pediatrician came into our room to tell us that something was severely wrong with him. He was put on a ventilator and an ambulance was rushing to transport him to The Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Joshua’s blood oxygen was well below 50%; a healthy newborn is generally oxygenating at 100%.