Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Samuel James Windom's heart story submitted by heart grandmother Jeanne Buchanan.

August 20, 2003, we were so excited my husband and I were about to be 1st time grandparents. Staci and Matt were sweethearts beginning in elementary school all the way through to college graduation. They married in September 2000 and waited almost 3 years before beginning a family.

Everything seemed so good, until Staci (who is a Pediatric RN) visited a friend in the medical field, who offered to do a sonogram at 15 weeks. Staci was so excited; she was going to find out the sex of her first child earlier than the doctors had planned. When they arrived at the office, the friend who was doing the sonogram immediately had a stunned look on his face. He told them it was a boy, but that something was wrong. It appeared that on the left side of the heart there were calcification type deposits and that the heart did not seem fully developed. Staci and Matt were devastated. I will never forget the look on Staci’s face when she was getting out of her car at my home latter that afternoon. She was hysterical. The baby she was carrying and had waited for had a heart defect. The GYN group Staci was using referred her to a specialist group in Cobb County. Staci and Matt made their appointment and went a couple of days later. The office did another sonogram and then the doctor began to talk to them. He suggested that Staci have an abortion. He said this child would never be able to play or act likes any other child. I do not have to express the feelings these two wonderful, God abiding people were experiencing.

They contacted our pastor and he immediately came over to our home along with Matt’s parents, and immediate family members. Our pastor had prayer with all of us; we prayed and prayed and prayed.

Staci was contacted by a friend whose child had received heart surgery and knew the cardiologist would possibly be knowledgeable of the heart defect of Staci and Matt’s baby.

They made an appointment and my husband and I along with Matt’s parents went with them to Stockbridge. The doctor conducted a pre-natal echo and could see the defect. But he gave us HOPE. He said he thought it was Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He told us there was a series of 3 surgeries that could modify the heart function. He told us that this little boy may not be able to play contact sports, but he could possibly play any other sports and function normally. He cautioned that they had a long road ahead of them, but that they had family support, great surgeons at Egleston and God on their side.

Samuel James Windom was born on March 29, 2004. The Norwood surgical procedure was at 4 days old. Samuel was in the hospital almost 4 weeks. He developed a problem with his gall bladder. We had to return to Egleston for gall gladder surgery when he was 3 months and 25 days old. He received the Glenn when he was 4 months, 23 days old. He received the Fontan the 3rd surgery on May 22, 2006. He is recovering very well. Samuel has amazingly bounced back from all of his surgeries; however, this could not be accomplished without the mighty power of prayer. We have been so fortunate to have the support of our family, friends, and even strangers through prayers for Samuel. God has blessed us with such a wonderful miracle. Samuel’s smile warms your heart every time you see him.

1 comment:

Nancy Evans said...

I know what you have experienced. My first grandson, just born a few weeks before yours, has to have the exact same 3 surgeries. He had had the first two. He gets the last, the fontan, next month. Its very stressful for our whole family. We had no warning before the birth,(despite numerous ultrasounds) but a problem was evident a few hours after birth. It took a week for the diagnosis of a heart defect to be made. I thank you for sharing your story. It is so hard to see my daughter go through this.

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