Meet Brenden

“This is my son Brenden. When he was born the doctors found a heart murmur and we were scheduled to have an appointment with the cardiologist shortly afterwards. He was found to have Tetrology of Fallot. He wasn’t showing any symptoms, but the doctors said to look out for it and to expect surgery. He was three months old when he had his first surgery. He did very well through it. We were told that he may have another surgery later in life. The thought that you never know when is what hurts the most. He was a baby the first time so he didn’t remember anything from that, but what about when he’s older? He’s going to remember everything he will go through then. Just the thought that another surgery could be just around the corner is enough to scare any parent. At a regular cardiologist appointment just before Thanksgiving last year, we got the news that another surgery was coming soon. Thanksgiving that year was more somber than in previous years. Everyone looked at Brenden with tears in their eyes although we all tried to be strong for him. We scheduled the surgery for January 17th this year to replace his pulminary valve. It had to be replaced because some of the blood that is supposed to go to his lungs was coming back into his heart and it was becoming inflamed. Dr. Myers did his surgery and explained everything in words I could understand. Brenden was a trooper. He did extremely well. He went in for surgery on a Tuesday and left for home on Friday. The nurses at Hershey Medical Center were wonderful with him. I couldn’t be more happy with that hospital and would recommend it to anyone. Also the Ronald Mcdonald House has been a big help to us. There are wonderful people there, and I made some friends that were in the same situation as we were. Now Brenden is back to his happy seven year old self and can’t wait to go back to school to see his friends. There is always another possibility of another surgery in his future but for now he is doing well and we hope it stays that way for a while.”