{"id":3000,"date":"2018-02-23T20:31:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T20:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=3000"},"modified":"2018-02-26T14:46:43","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T14:46:43","slug":"congenital-heart-patient-overcomes-incredible-obstacles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/congenital-heart-patient-overcomes-incredible-obstacles\/","title":{"rendered":"Congenital heart patient overcomes incredible obstacles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meosha Hilson was on cloud nine. On July 12, 2011, she had just given birth to her third child \u2013 a boy named Ka\u2019Mario \u2013 at a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. But two days after delivery, Ka\u2019Mario\u2019s lips and toes turned purple and his breathing was off.<\/p>\n

Immediately, Ka\u2019Mario was rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta. After a series of tests, doctors discovered Ka\u2019Mario had a serious congenital heart defect call hypoplastic left heart syndrome<\/a>, where the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so upset about his diagnosis because there was nothing I could personally do for him as a mother,\u201d Meosha said. \u201cI had to leave it all up to the doctors to save him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daunting sequence<\/h2>\n

\"Ka\u2019Mario At just three days old, Ka\u2019Mario underwent open heart surgery performed by Dr. Paul Kirschbaum, a congenital heart surgeon at Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome requires a sequence of at least three open heart surgeries to fix the functionality of the heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cA healthy heart typically has two upper chambers and two lower chambers called ventricles, which serve as the main pumping chambers,\u201d said Dr. Mark Plunkett<\/a>, congenital heart surgeon at OSF HealthCare Children\u2019s Hospital of Illinois<\/a>. \u201cOne of the ventricles pumps blood to the body while the other ventricle pumps blood to the lungs. With hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the heart has two healthy upper chambers, but only one fully developed lower chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n

The purpose of Ka\u2019Mario\u2019s first surgery was to get his single ventricle to do double the work \u2013 pump blood to both his body and his lungs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in the hospital for about three weeks after his first surgery,\u201d Meosha said. \u201cI had to learn how to put a feeding tube in him and had to help him get stronger for his next surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October 2011, Ka\u2019Mario underwent his second surgery in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

The goal of this surgery was to take some responsibility off Ka\u2019Mario\u2019s sole ventricle. The ventricle continued to pump blood to his body. But to get blood to Ka\u2019Mario\u2019s lungs, the procedure bypassed the heart by taking the large vein that drains the blood from the upper part of the body and connected it directly to the arteries that go to the lungs.<\/p>\n

Known as the \u2018Rock Star\u2019<\/h2>\n

By age 1, Ka\u2019Mario was walking, talking and thriving.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo hear my baby boy say \u2018mama,\u2019 hold a bottle and see him walk is indescribable because we didn\u2019t know when or if he would be able to do any of that,\u201d Meosha said. \u201cHis care team in Atlanta called Ka\u2019Mario a rock star because of the way he progressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ka\u2019MarioIn March 2016, the family moved from Atlanta to Champaign, Illinois. A new city meant finding a new hospital for Ka\u2019Mario to continue his treatment.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Dr. Kirschbaum is good friends with Dr. Plunkett because they went through heart surgery training together at Duke University. Dr. Kirschbaum recommended the Clays seek treatment there.<\/p>\n

Meosha is glad she listened.<\/p>\n

In July 2017, at 6 years old, Ka\u2019Mario underwent his third and final open heart surgery to fix his hypoplastic left heart syndrome.<\/p>\n

Dr. Plunkett took the large vein that drains the blood from the lower body and connected it directly to the artery leading to the lungs.<\/p>\n

\u201cKa\u2019Mario did very well with his surgery,\u201d Dr. Plunkett said. \u201cI have seen him a few times since his surgery, and I am very pleased with how he\u2019s doing. He\u2019s an adorable kid. I actually still have a thank you card he wrote to me after surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Ka\u2019Mario is a happy-go-lucky first grader who loves school. He only requires a multivitamin and a baby aspirin daily for his heart, and regular checkups with Dr. Plunkett.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t get enough of Ka\u2019Mario Clay \u2013 he\u2019s such a sweetheart,\u201d Meosha said. \u201cI\u2019m so thankful to the children\u2019s hospitals in Atlanta and Peoria for all they have done for my son. I see a bright future for Ka\u2019Mario.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meosha Hilson was on cloud nine. On July 12, 2011, she had just given birth to her third child \u2013 a boy named Ka\u2019Mario \u2013 at a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. But two days after delivery, Ka\u2019Mario\u2019s lips and toes turned purple and his breathing was off. Immediately, Ka\u2019Mario was rushed to the Neonatal Intensive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":3002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[105,116,223],"tags":[700,142],"coauthors":[690],"class_list":["post-3000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiovascular","category-pediatrics","category-patient-story","tag-congenital-heart","tag-childrens-hospital-of-illinois"],"yoast_head":"\nCongenital heart patient overcomes incredible obstacles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ka\u2019Mario is a happy-go-lucky first grader who loves school - thanks to surgery to fix his congenital heart defect.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/congenital-heart-patient-overcomes-incredible-obstacles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congenital heart patient overcomes incredible obstacles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ka\u2019Mario is a happy-go-lucky first grader who loves school - 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