Our precious Patrick was born with Pulmonary Atresia on June 30th of 2011, which means that his Pulmonary Artery did not connect his heart to his lungs properly. So, he had a series of three heart surgeries that changed the way his heart worked. These life-saving surgeries came with high costs, however. One of them damaged the pericardium, the electrical system of the heart, and from that moment on he would forever be pacemaker dependent, and the other was that a 9-day post-op life-saving stent on ECMO led to a stroke. This stroke led doctors to believe that Patrick would never walk or talk. Boy did he fool them!

Patrick spent his first nine months at Cook Children’s getting the absolute best care, and five days before his first Christmas we were recommended that hospice and palliative care might be the best option for our little man. But his nurses, the warriors in the trenches, said “We know what they just told you and you take that boy home and he will thrive! He is a FIGHTER!” And we did. And he did, for 11 beautiful years, confounding his doctors every step of the way.

On St. Patrick’s Day 2023, believe it or not, Patrick began to have severe stomach pains which, based on symptoms and WebMD, we knew he was suffering from appendicitis! We rushed him to Cooks ER and he has not been home since. We were shocked to find out that it was not appendicitis, but heart failure. His little heart had been going along strong but there were some issues. He has a leaky baffle that is allowing blood to flow back into the right ventricle, which is building up pressure, but most importantly his left ventricle is just not squeezing well and the right ventricle has to take up the slack. That strain was becoming too much for his little heart. So much so that his Cook Children’s team that cared for him for 11 years felt that it would be safer to send him to Children’s Health in Dallas where there were other surgical options available, like the LVAD and Heart Transplant.

Getting adjusted to a new hospital was intense but everybody has Patrick’s best interest at heart, pardon the pun. We’ve met the whole transplant team and are prepared for the process. The social worker here at Children’s Health told us about COTA after we arrived. The Children’s Organ Transplant Association will help us fundraise and also supply a website where we can add updates about Patrick and 100% of any donated funds to COTA will be used for transplant-related expenses. We’re still working on adding to this website.

A lot of family, friends, and even strangers have asked us if we need anything and it’s so hard to answer that question, but we know everyone would like to help somehow. People are so good and wonderful! If you’re interested, you can make a donation to COTA in honor of Patrick, which is tax deductible as allowed by law, and COTA will make sure gifts are used to assist with transplant-related expenses for years to come.

The past six weeks have been tough on Mandy and I, as I am sure you can imagine. Mandy has continued to be the rock of our family despite being a satellite living in a hospital, her strength is inspiring. How my daughter, Patrick’s older twin by a minute, is persevering through this with such grace is truly a miracle. To my extended family and friends, each of you has reached out and touched our lives and helped in some way and provided support: Thank you! As for me… I just pray I don’t mess anything up! As always, whether you donate or not, please lift up a positive thought or prayer for our son, Patrick! Thank you so much for taking the time to read his story!

The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) helps children and young adults who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. COTA is the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy children and young adults. 100% of each contribution made to COTA in honor of our patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA’s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.