Why Running or Walking This Saturday May 16th Means So Much

This year Mother’s Day was extra special after the last few months with Matthew. As you know he had his fourth open heart surgery on November 10^th 2014 and we were very surprised to be hospitalized twice so soon afterwards. The official diagnosis is Plastic Bronchitis and Matthew will now add a Pulmonologist to the list of doctors he will see on a regular basis.

Matthew is a complicated little man and hides his complexity very well behind his cute face and amazing smile!  He lives with half a heart.   He is what is called a single ventricle patient as he pumps oxygenated blood around his body and then it comes back through the lungs to be oxygenated again and then pumped back around his body from his heart again. He has no spleen and his liver is mid-line instead of in his right lower quadrant. He has two lungs with three lobes and his heart is on the right side and faces backwards. He now takes 10 doses of medicine a day to help his heart and lungs. He will likely have a heart transplant at some point but we are hoping it is later rather than sooner.

These past few weeks have included some emotional highs and lows but through it all we have had an outpouring of prayers and support from an amazing group of friends and family and for that we are extremely grateful!

But we are the lucky ones.  Just being on the floor at Columbia with some of these really sick kids makes us realize how lucky we are to have Matthew back home with us.  There were some kids on the cardiac floor who we met when we went to the hospital the first time but were not there when we were readmitted.  This is the reality of life with a child with CHD.  And this is why we do what we do.

This Saturday Matthew plans on walking and running the 5K Run in Sherman as part of Dylan Shiland’s Eagle Scout Project. I know he would love to have some company on scenic Church Road not only to support MHOH and Dylan, but to support all of those kids who may very well depend on the research that is being done for Congenital Heart Defects which is directly where the funding will go.

Many people never meet their hero, I gave birth to mine. He has a faith like no one I know and faces the many challenges he has with incredible bravery, I know he has inspired many people around him including me to be a better person.