After trying to have a baby for 10 years, we were so excited to finally know that I was pregnant (and at age 38 years old, it was exciting to be expecting our first child).

My pregnancy was complicated, I was diagnosed early with low amniotic fluid, so I was monitored frequently to make sure that things remained stable. I even went into early labor several times and eventually I was instructed to take it easy. After a long 19 hours of labor and a c-section my wonderful baby, Brent, was born on December 20, 1994.

I was so excited to finally see him, but the meeting was brief. After only a few short minutes, he was taken away and checked, because he was having trouble breathing. He was taken to a bigger hospital where more tests were run and he was put in the neo-natal intensive care unit. I remained in the other hospital with an infection for 1 week.

After Brent was diagnosed with Truncus Arteriosus, we were devastated to say the least. After having many, many, many ultrasounds because of my earlier problems, we were expecting a very healthy baby. Needless to say the fact that I had to remain at another hospital and not even see my baby was horrible. When I was finally well enough to see him in the NICU, I was devastated. I began to cry because my beautiful baby was hooked up to so many machines and IV'S. He looked so helpless. Since it was during the Christmas Holiday, the staff even had a little Christmas hat on his head and an ornament with his name on it hung on the hospital Christmas tree. It was all very overwhelming.

On February 14, 1995 my son had his first open heart surgery. It was a very emotional time for my husband and I and our families. It was a long surgery. The hole was patched and a pig valve was put in. We took him home a few weeks later. He was on two oral medications for a few months, but all and all he did quite well. You have no idea how thankful we were. Several months later he had a heart catheterization because of narrowing of the valve, due to scar tissue. It worked temporarily, but at 23 months old, my baby had his second open heart surgery to replace the valve. His surgeries were performed at Children's Hospital in Detroit, Michigan where we lived at the time. The team of doctors that performed the surgeries were wonderful. We could not have asked for a better group.

The second surgery went well. But it actually was tougher for us than the first. Even though we knew what to expect this time, our son was older and was now his own little person. It made it more difficult to let him go.

Brent is now almost 12 years old. He has done wonderfully all these years. He has grown and matured so well. He sees his cardiologist in Michigan once a year. We have been very reluctant to take him anywhere else as we feel Dr. Farooki has been a god-send. Brent still has a leaky valve which we keep an eye on and of course, the right side is a little larger. We are told that he may need one more surgery as he continues to grow, we are just not sure when.

We are thankful everyday for modern medicine and continue to realize that there will be great strides in this field as time goes by. We love our son like crazy and know that he has a long life ahead of him.