Matthew after his Unifocalization July 2005

Matthew and his big brother Casey at Sunrise Hospital PICU October 2005.

Matthew getting ready to come home after his second heart surgery March 2006

Matthew getting a bath after his second heart surgery in March 2006

Mike, Terri and Matthew leaving LPCH @ Stanford in March 2006

Matthew at one year old  May 2006

Matthew was born 8 weeks premature on May 10th, 2005, weighing in at 4lbs 1oz. We found out four days later that he had this very rare and life threatening four fold heart defect. We were told by Dr. Gary Mayman that Matthew was born without a pulmonary artery. We were completely shocked because when I was 20 weeks pregnant, I had gone in for a special ultrasound on the baby's heart and had a blood flow mapping done. All checked out great. A heart cath proved the diagnoses was correct.

We were transferred from Summerlin to Sunrise Hospital when he was four days old. He spent the next 9 weeks in the NICU as a "grower and a feeder." On July 9th, 2005 we were told he could "no longer be medically managed" due to the uncontrolled blood flow to his lungs and needed his heart surgery. He was intubated and flown up to LPCH @ Stanford. We spent 3 weeks at the Stanford NICU before his surgery. He underwent a second heart cath and found that he had four collateral arteries pouring blood into his lungs, like an open spigot.

Finally, on July 28th, 2005 Dr. Frank Hanley performed a complete "Unifocalization." (Dr. Hanley pioneered and developed this surgery.) Matthew was 2-1/2 months old and weighed only 6 pounds.

Unfortunately, Matthew's lungs were so badly damaged that he spent the next couple months on a ventilator in the CVICU. We were told that Matthew would need a trach and would most likely be on a ventilator for a year or two. Luckily for us, Stanford allowed Matthew to go on a fairly new breathing device called Vapotherm at a high liter flow and we were able to keep him from getting a trach.

We were flown home to Las Vegas on Sept. 19, 2005. Matthew had reflux, so he had a fundoplication to prevent him from aspirating milk. He also needed a feeding tube because he was failing to thrive ? he would need to be fed overnight by a feeding pump. He was diagnosed with kidney reflux in October ? it is not uncommon in premature babies.

After a long and difficult five and a half months spent in the hospital... we were discharged on October 23, 2005. I was excited and scared to death all at the same time. We went home on 13 different medications and breathing treatments, 24 hour oxygen, and a feeding pump. He was not a good bottle feeder, so he was fed by tube most of the time. It was quite overwhelming for us. We were slammed w/ 15 doctor appointments for the month of November and 11 for the month of December.

Matthew had a third heart cath a couple days before Thanksgiving 2005, we were told by Dr. Mayman that Matthew would be needing a conduit change at any time. His pulmonary arteries were also narrowing. We were shocked and disappointed. He had already outgrown his new "pulmonary artery." So, on March 16th, 2006 we were back at LPCH @ Stanford having a conduit change and a PA plasty performed by the world famous Dr. Frank Hanley. We were driving home to Las Vegas on March 23rd!

Matthew is now one year old and is doing fantastic. He is our miracle baby. You would never know by looking at him that he has ever had anything wrong with him. What a whirlwind year it had been for all of us. He has been through more pain and suffering than most people go thru in a lifetime.

We know that he will need more surgery in the next few years... We try to take each day as it comes and not think too much about what might be. We take it day by day. We are blessed to have a wonderful support system of friends and family that help us to get though it all.