Cole was born with two congenital heart defects. He had two fairly large holes in his walnut-sized heart (one on top, one on the bottom) called ASD and VSD. These caused him trouble breathing, which made eating and growing nearly impossible. After 7 weeks of trying to coax drops of milk into him, he stopped growing and we had to act quickly. Our amazing pediatrician and pediatric cardiologist sent us to Boston Children's and we will never be able to thank them enough.
We brought our tiny warrior to the Department of Cardiac Surgery on December 19, 2016. He had a long open heart surgery the following day. While we sat in shock, the wonderful staff lead us to an extraordinary display of holiday gifts, all donated by families, for families struggling with sick children during what is supposed to be a joyous time of year. We hadn't done any holiday shopping for anyone in our family, and were able to pick out bags of stuffed animals, books, and other toys for all the kids in our family.
The day after surgery, Cole ate the most I'd ever seen him eat (3 whole ounces of milk in one short sitting!) and my heart knew we had come to the right place. We took our smallest triplet home to join his big brothers on Christmas Eve 2016.
Every year during this season we reflect on how fortunate we were to have access to this kind of care in our time of need. We left the hospital feeling unbelievably blessed, and now we want to give back. Please join us in supporting children and families at Boston Children's Hospital this holiday season. With our help, parents and caregivers will be able to focus on what matters most: helping their child and family heal.
