July Heart Hero of the Month Jamiee

Written by, Heart Mom Star

I am the proud mom of a beautiful almost 13 year old name Jamiee. Jamiee’s heart condition was found at 27 weeks in utero. Jamie was born crying and blue on August 7, 2007. Jamie had her first heart cath at just a few days old. That was when we were told that she had a form of hypoplastic left heart called shone’s complex. With her shones, the left ventricle was very small, her mitral valve and her aortic valves were very bad. She was also born with 3 holes in her heart. 

Jamiee’s first heart surgery was at exactly a month old. She had the Ross-Kono procedure, this was the sickest she would ever be before and after surgery. We almost lost her after the surgery but thanks to Dr. Duncan and Dr. Hammel, she survived.

Surgeries two and three happened a month apart in November and December of 2007. The third surgery brought the need for blood thinners as the mitral valve was replaced with the mechanical one. Jamiee at that time was the youngest and the smallest to get a Saint Jude mechanical mitral valve. Surgery number four came in November of 2009, which we replaced her mitral valve again and tightened her other valves.

Jamie has had many heart caths since. She is preparing for her fifth open-heart surgery on July 1st of this year. She will have her mitral valve replaced again and they will also work on her pulmonary arteries with the possibility of replacing two of her other valves in her heart.

This heart journey has been hard at times and joyous at other times. The heart hero cape has given Jamiee an outward badge of courage. It shows those who can’t see the scars just how strong and amazing she is.  Heart Heroes has given me as her mother an outlet of other parents who understand what I’m going through. I know I can call any of the parents if I’m having a rough time and they will listen and help me through the rough patches.