Heart Surgery

Many of you have been following Kate since before she was born. Others have only just met her. So, first, let me give her history.

At 18 weeks, when she was about the size of a walnut, and her heart was about the size of a small raisin, the doctors told us that she’d be coming into the world with some challenges. This first is that she has Down Syndrome, the second is that she would be born with an AV Canal, essentially a big hole right in the middle of her heart. How they docs could see that was beyond me, but we started getting ready.

At 3 months, Kate had her first surgery. She was too little for a complete repair, but they needed to do something to reduce the pressure on the cardiovascular system to avoid damage to her lungs. They put a band on her pulmonary artery to help reduce the over-circulation of blood, and that has given her time to grow and get strong.

Now, at 9 months old, she goes for her next heart surgery. This one will be far more extensive. They will essentially reconstruct her heart by building the walls of the atria and ventricles, and then splitting her single valve into 2 separate valves. It will take about 7 hours to do all of this. The surgeon that does this is truly an angel walking on earth.

She will be in the hospital for 7-10 days afterwards, and then her full recovery will take about 6 weeks. After that, we hope that her heart will thrive and work like anyone else’s. She’ll grow, and run, and play, and love.

Kate is such an amazing, loving, gentle, funny, and strong little girl. It is impossible not to fall in love with her. I have seen her steal the hearts of strangers with her hypnotic eye contact and a smile that can melt you. She has the most loving little hands and snuggles with anyone who holds her. She is a gift.

To say that it is hard to know that she is having this surgery is the world’s greatest understatement. There are moments when the thought paralyzes me. I can only hope and pray that she is in good hands. But I simply can’t express how scary it is.

We have great support of family and friends. Kate has a great village. Please send her your thoughts, prayers and love.

Much love,

Team Kate