Aden Earl was born with only half of a heart. He was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He is now 13 months old and has already had two open heart surgeries. He almost died after going into cardiac arrest after the second surgery but was brought back by the wonderful doctors and nurses of Sunrise Children’s Hospital. Next week he faces open heart surgery again, the third in a series designed to complete the ‘re-plumbing’ of his heart. This very brave little boy has been through so much, yet he is the sweetest most well behaved little cutie you’ll ever meet. He will steal your heart the moment you meet him. Aden’s will to live is very strong. His strength of spirit has gotten him this far, but this third surgery is scary. Please join us for a prayer vigil on January 19th at 3:00 p.m. at Sunset Park, Las Vegas in support of Baby Aden and his dedicated Mother, Cambria Childs. Just a few weeks after Aden was born he had the first surgery, the Norwood Procedure. Surgeons at Sunrise Children’s Hospital created a “new” aorta and connected it to the right ventricle. They also placed a tube to the vessels supplying the lungs (pulmonary artery). Thus, the right ventricle can pump blood to both the lungs and the rest of the body. This is a very challenging surgery. Aden was in the neonatal intensive-care unit for 8 weeks followed by another 12 weeks in hospital. The second surgery was at 6 months called a Bi-directional Glenn Shunt Procedure. This procedure creates a direct connection between the pulmonary artery and the vessel (the superior vena cava) returning oxygen-poor blood from the upper part of the body to the heart. This reduces the work the right ventricle has to do by allowing blood returning from the body to flow directly to the lungs. It was just 24 hours after this procedure that his little body just quit. He went into cardiac arrest / respiratory failure and was brought back to life by a dedicated code blue team at Sunrise. He remained in hospital for another 4 weeks before finally getting to go home. Aden’s mother, Cambria Childs had to learn how to take care of her baby very quickly. At 23 years old and a single mother of two, she learned how to operate the oxygen machine, the feeding tube and other equipment he came home with. She had a crash course in medications. Cambria spends almost all of her time taking care of her two children who are her universe. Next week Aden will undergo the Fontan Procedure. Doctors will connect the pulmonary artery and the vessel (the inferior vena cava) returning oxygen-poor blood from the lower part of the body to the heart, allowing the rest of the blood coming back from the body to go to the lungs. The family asks for your prayers and support for little Aden at this crucial time. If you can, please come to the prayer vigil on January 19th at 3:00 p.m. at Sunset Park, Las Vegas (2601 East Sunset Road, Las Vegas, NV 89120 - on the North West side of the pond).
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 18:41:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015