Matthew
Open-heart surgery on a newborn baby?
At the University of Michigan Health System, home to one of the world’s top centers for children’s heart care, it’s not out of the ordinary.
But for Matthew and his family, it was a startling way to begin a little boy’s life. Four years later, he’s alive - and full of mischief - because of the help he got at U-M.
The day after he was born, Matthew began to turn blue. Suspecting a serious heart problem, the doctors called the U-M’s Survival Flight helicopter service to fly the tiny baby to the U-M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
Shortly after his arrival, the children’s heart doctors of the Michigan Congenital Heart Center diagnosed Matthew with a severe case of a heart condition called aortic stenosis.
His blood could barely get out of his heart and into his body, because the opening between his heart and largest blood vessel was far too small. The tiny flaps of muscle called the aortic valve, which normally regulate the flow of blood through that opening, were too stiff to move.
Six of every 1,000 babies are born with some sort of aortic stenosis, but Matthew’s case was especially bad. His body was starving for oxygen. Without treatment, his heart and organs would fail and he’d almost certainly die within days of birth.
The first step in saving Matthew’s life: a procedure called angioplasty, performed when he was just two days old. A U-M team led by Dr. Thomas Lloyd carefully threaded a tube through a tiny opening in his skin, into a blood vessel and up into the stiff valve of his heart. Then, they inflated a tiny balloon on the end of the tube to create a larger opening so blood could flow.
Then, when he was fifteen days old, Matthew had open-heart surgery. In an operation known as the Ross Procedure, doctors led by Dr. Edward Bove removed his defective aortic valve and replaced it with a healthy valve taken from another part of his heart. That valve, in turn, was replaced with one from a donor.
Because the donor valve does not grow with the child, Matthew had to have this surgery repeated the summer he turned three. He will continue to have additional surgeries as needed until he is fully grown, but will otherwise lead a normal life.
Taking Care of the Whole Family
Matthew’s mom, Cathy, says the entire Congenital Heart team at Mott Hospital not only takes great care of kids, but also takes great care of parents.
“They really understand what you're going through as a parent. Before the surgery, they take you to see other children in pediatric intensive care to prep you for what your child is going to look like all ‘tubed up.’ During recovery, they remind you to take care of yourself - in my case, they had to keep reminding me that I had just had a baby! Before you go home, they make sure you are comfortable with all the procedures, like inserting the feeding tube. And the nurses in 5 East (the heart-care unit of Mott Hospital) are absolutely wonderful. They make you feel like part of the family.”
Today, Matthew is four years old, and there is no keeping up with him. He wears his scar like a badge of honor, proudly showing his “boo-boo” to all his friends at day care.
