Our heart journey began when I was about 22 weeks pregnant at a routine ultrasound that showed some abnormalities with our baby’s heart and diaphragm. We were crushed. We knew we wanted to give our baby a chance and the cardiologist we were working with was on the phone getting grim chances with everyone he knew. We asked him to reach out to Omaha…and well…long story short, that brings us to where we are today with Cayden!

Cayden was born with a diaphragmatic hernia (not heart related) and Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Because of his duel diagnosis doctors were unsure how long he would live. After he was born he was stabilized on a ventilator and recovered well from his hernia repair. He remained in the hospital for 595 days after birth having emergency open heart surgery (atrial septostomy) at 3 weeks old and his Norwood at 6 weeks old. He got a G-button/Fundo, a shunt revision (heart), and a trach in the summer months of 2014.

We brought him home June 15, 2015 and he has only spent about 23 days in the hospital since. Thank you Help-a-Heart for all the support, from gas cards, to lunch, to just having someone to talk to! Hoping that as we continue this journey we get to know more of the wonderful families that make up Help-a-Heart!