Journey
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Nick's Recovery
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Nick's Recovery
We knew when Robin was pregnant that Nick had a malformation in his heart and was nervous on where this road was going to lead.
At 1 month of age, he had the first heart surgery and everything went very well. 5 months of age the second surgery was performed, and this is where the first set back happened. After the procedure Robin was feeding Nick a bottle and he just became limp in her arms. He went into cardiac arrest and was put on the ecmo machine for five days, and to our great relief, he recovered very well. At 3 years of age was the third and final surgery, and all went very well with no complications.
After all this was behind us, there was just one little hiccup along the way. When he was almost 4 years old, his heart rate would drop to about 40 BPM at night while sleeping and needed to have a pacemaker. While he was growing up and developing his personality things were very normal except for more than normal doctor visits.
He had a heart catherization in Sept. of 2024 and we found out then that his heart was failing and would need a heart transplant! We did find out when he was 14 about him needing a transplant. Nick had numerous doctors to make sure he was even a candidate for a transplant. Thankfully he was! When the time came Nick was actually excited about receiving a new heart. After the 12-hour surgery everything looked like it was going well until he went into cardiac arrest. We found out through an MRI that was done that he had a previous brain injury from the event at 5 months old. This compounded the brain injury that happened after the transplant and has led us on the journey we are currently on.
At 1 month of age, he had the first heart surgery and everything went very well. 5 months of age the second surgery was performed, and this is where the first set back happened. After the procedure Robin was feeding Nick a bottle and he just became limp in her arms. He went into cardiac arrest and was put on the ecmo machine for five days, and to our great relief, he recovered very well. At 3 years of age was the third and final surgery, and all went very well with no complications.
After all this was behind us, there was just one little hiccup along the way. When he was almost 4 years old, his heart rate would drop to about 40 BPM at night while sleeping and needed to have a pacemaker. While he was growing up and developing his personality things were very normal except for more than normal doctor visits.
He had a heart catherization in Sept. of 2024 and we found out then that his heart was failing and would need a heart transplant! We did find out when he was 14 about him needing a transplant. Nick had numerous doctors to make sure he was even a candidate for a transplant. Thankfully he was! When the time came Nick was actually excited about receiving a new heart. After the 12-hour surgery everything looked like it was going well until he went into cardiac arrest. We found out through an MRI that was done that he had a previous brain injury from the event at 5 months old. This compounded the brain injury that happened after the transplant and has led us on the journey we are currently on.
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Pat Hinson