1 Day Old

Awaiting the Norwood

CHASE Heart Picnic

Cheering For Our Favourite Team

Cobourg Beach

Emelie and Jakob in Florida

First Communion

Goalie

Horseshoe Valley

Juiliana and Jakob

Karate Tournament

Snowboarding

Walk for Heart

Jakob Stone is an energetic 11 (almost 12) year old with a fanatical love of football and hockey and a keen interest in history and film making. He is good student, plays goalie for his hockey team and will be trying out for the area football league in the spring. This is Jakob's story.

Our son Jakob was born on January 15, 1998 after an induced labour (gestational diabetes). He was taken by the nurses, but unlike our first daughter, did not return to our room. The nurses told us he was having a bit of trouble breathing and attributed it to me having gestational diabetes. Eventually, he did return to our room and tried to nurse and we were somewhat successful. The nurses decided at this point that he needed to be kept in the nursery rather than in our room and so proceeded the next few hours as they repeatedly brought him to me to feed.

However, very quickly it became apparent that something was wrong. My husband went to the nursery to check on him and came back reporting that he was in an incubator. Having weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz, he was a good size so we didn't get too concerned right away but his saturation levels continued to fluctuate through the night and by the morning, it was clear he was in trouble.

Jakob was airlifted to Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto the next day at 3:00 pm and we (Brad and I) followed the helicopter into the city. It was the longest drive of our lives. Once at the Sick Kids, Jakob was assessed and Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) was his diagnosis.

He had a Norwood procedure at 7 days, a bi-directional Glenn procedure at 9 months and a fenestrated Fontan at 33 months. Jakob also has a double stent in his left pulmonary artery to correct an area of stenosis and carries an epi pen due to episode of anaphylaxis during his third surgery (allergy unknown). He is has not taken any heart meds in the last 6 years and is on once/yearly cardiac clinic visits.

Yes, as many of you can relate, the first 5 years of Jake's life were....I don't have words to describe it! But he is still here, living life to the fullest and making our lives richer by having known him. Cheers Jake!