Isaiah with twin sister Natalie

We initially learned of Isaiah's heart defect the day after he was born. Isaiah and his twin sister, Natalie were born at only 33 and a half weeks gestation. Because of this, they were under the careful supervision of the NICU doctors and nurses. One of the nurses noticed that Isaiah had an "uncommon heart murmur." She reported it to the doctor who reported it to the cardiologist. After performing an echocardiogram, the cardiologist informed us that Isaiah had mild to moderate aortic coarctation, a bicuspid aortic valve, and a deformed mitral valve. He said the goal was to wait until Isaiah was about two years old to perform a surgery to repair the coarctation.

Unfortunately, Isaiah's condition quickly deteriorated until the nurses were hardly able to get a blood pressure in Isaiah's lower extremities. At 9 days old and weighing only about 4 lbs., Isaiah was rushed to surgery at Mott's Children's Hospital. His coarctation was worse than they expected. They were forced to perform open heart surgery and use a cadaver artery to repair the aorta. The surgery went well. Isaiah recovered at Mott's for another week and then returned to the NICU with his sister where he stayed for another week.

About four months after his initial surgery at a routine check-up, Isaiah's cardiologist discovered that scar tissue had built up in Isaiah's aorta leaving it 80% blocked in some areas. Again, we were sent to Mott's Children's Hospital. There, Isaiah was given a balloon catheterization which was able to clear out most, but not all of the scar tissue.

At Isaiah's two-year visit, the cardiologist was happy with the function of his aorta, but Isaiah's mitral valve is not functioning as well as it had in the past. We are optimistic, however, that this will not continue to get worst and at this point, we are just "watching it."

We are all blessed to have Isaiah and his sister Natalie in our lives. Each day I am reminded of God's love through them. Isaiah has proven to be resilient and tough. He takes care of his sister and doesn't let the small stuff bother him. His "special heart" has only made him a more determined, outgoing toddler.