Thank you for visiting my fundraising page for the STL Congenital Heart Walk. Raising funds for CHD research is critically important to all Heart Warriors and Heart Angels, and personally very meaningful to our family.

 We had our first child, Knox, on July 1st 2019 and were told right away that he had a heart murmur. After two Echocardiograms and a chest x-ray they determined that he had two congenital heart defects- a Ventricular Septal Defect (a small hole between the bottom two chambers of the heart) and Patent Ductus Arteriosus (an opening between two blood vessels leading from the heart). After meeting with a cardiologist they decided the PDA needed to be closed and they scheduled a Cardiac Catherization procedure at St Louis Children’s Hospital for the following week.

The day before his procedure we had another Echo done at St Louis Children’s Hospital and they discovered that Knox did not have a PDA, but it was actually a rare defect called an Aortopulmonary Window. APW is a hole between the blood vessel that feeds the heart (the aorta) and the blood vessel going to the lungs (pulmonary artery). Because of this hole, blood from the aorta rushes into the pulmonary artery, and too much blood flows through the lungs.

Aortopulmonary windows are rare — they account for less than 0.1 percent of all congenital heart defects. If left untreated, they can lead to high blood pressure in the lungs (pulmonary hypertension) and heart failure.

What we thought was going to be a non-invasive procedure and a one night stay in the hospital turned into Knox being admitted, a five hour open heart surgery four days later and a week long stay in the hospital at only 3 months old. 

Knox is now 6 months old and is doing great! We see his cardiologist regularly and are optimistic that he will not need any additional procedures.

Please help us to fund CHD research by making a donation to my personal fundraising page. Together we can make a life-saving difference!