My youngest son Asher was born in December, 2006. At eight days, he was diagnosed with a severe congenital heart defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). In addition to other defects within the heart, Asher is missing the part which pumps blood out of the heart to the body (the left ventricle) and the vessel that carries blood from the heart to the body (the aorta). Since his diagnosis, Asher has been through 12 surgeries, ten of which were cardiac, and three of those were open heart. He has also been admitted to the hospital 26 times.
In addition to his heart defect, Asher has several other health issues. He lives with congestive heart failure and hypertension. His kidneys are underdeveloped and full of calcium, the result of renal failure and long-term use of strong diuretics. For a long time, Asher was also unable to eat by mouth, and relied on a feeding tube for almost three years (he has been tube-free since January 2010!)
