Mason's Story

Mason was born on April 8th, 2009. He looked healthy and was a sweet baby. The next day the pediatrician heard a heart murmur and after an echo, Mason was diagnosed with a severe rare heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, HLHS. We were given the options of a series of surgeries or a heart transplant. We chose to go to the University of Michigan's Mott Childrens Hospital. Mason had his first heart surgery, Norwood, on April 14th. He had a rough recovery which included excessive bleeding in the OR and coding 3 days later. We were told only one of 500 survive the complication that led to Mason's cardiac arrest. Mason was also diagnosed with a paralyzed left diaphragm and required 2 surgeries to fix. He also had an episode of NEC. After 3 long months in the hospital, he was discharged on July 10th and sent home to grow before his next surgery.


We returned to Michigan in October for what we thought was going to be Mason's second open heart surgery to discover that he had developed pulmonary hypertension in his left lung. After going home for 5 months on Sildenafil, we returned again to Michigan. This time the pressure in Mason's lung low enough to move to the next surgery, the Hemi-Fontan. So, on March 3, 2010, Mason had his second open heart surgery and was discharged 2 weeks later.

Now he is home and learning new things on a daily basis. He never ceases to amaze me. It has been a long year but seems like just yesterday that he was born. He has taught me so many things over the last year and even though it has been the most difficult year of my life, I would not change a thing. Our family, Randy, Mia and I, were chosen to take care of this special little guy and he gives us back so much in return! We are blessed.