I was born in January 1958 in Houston, Texas. At 2 days of age, my pediatrician told my parents that he heard a heart murmur. I was also a "blue baby". I had my first catheterization at the age of 2. I was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot. I then went to the doctor often for check ups as I continued to grow.

At the age of 8, we decided it was time for my surgery. I had a "complete repair" done in June, 1966 at Texas Children's Hospital. Dr. Denton Cooley was my surgeon. After recovering from this initial surgery, I went on to live a very normal life for many, many years. The only restriction I ever had was to just stop whatever I was doing when I got tired. (This worked great in P.E. class when I was always excused from running the dreaded mile) I went on to college, then worked full-time until I had my first of two children. They are now 16 and 10 and I have been married over 20 years.

The only time I remembered that I had a heart defect was when I would feel arrhythmias. This started to occur more and more often in 2001. In February 2001 I had a defibrillator implanted after an EP study was done. In May 2001, I had my AV node ablated and became pacemaker dependant. In June 2001, I had my pulmonary valve replaced at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Since the valve replacement, the size of my right ventricle has decreased markedly.

I continue to do well and try to live life to its fullest one day at a time. Prior to finding this Internet group, I had never met anyone else like me. C.H.I.N. has been such an incredible source of information, support and friendship. I don't know what I would do without it.....