Super Sam – Hero at Heart

November is Super Sam’s “heartiversary” month.  The Burton family will be counting extra blessings this Thanksgiving as they recall that during Thanksgiving week last year, Sam was having his third open-heart surgery at Children’s Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska.  Sam was born with hypoplastic right heart syndrome, pulmonary atresia, and tricuspid regurgitation. During Sam’s first heart catheterization at just one day old there was an accident and his pulmonary artery was punctured. As Sam hemorrhaged, he was without oxygen for a small amount  of time. During these critical moments Sam suffered a massive stroke – 11 of them, to be exact.  Open-heart surgery was immediately performed with safety scissors as they were not in an operating room and no equipment was available. No scrubs, no gloves,  no sterile equipment, just the best cardiac surgeon in the world,  God and my amazing Heart Hero.

Sam recovered like a CHAMP and stayed strong for his second open-heart surgery, which entailed a BT shunt. Of course, we had the typical health issues that all heart families tend to deal with. Sam had many bouts of pneumonia and developed asthma, which was very severe.  For many years, doctors stuck to their opinion that Sam had lung disease. It wasn’t until he started kindergarten and the teacher wanted a wagon to take him down the hall that I decided to look for a second opinion.  This pushed the doctors to take another look at Sam. An MRI was performed and within days we were scheduled for another heart catheterization.  Sam was in congestive heart failure.  Sam had five repairs done, including a new pulmonary valve.  His surgery and recovery were successful, and during his most recent visit to the heart doctor, the cardiologist deemed him “heart healthy”!

Super Sam loves playing Xbox, basketball and football with his big brother Joe. He loves to torment his eight year old sister, Heart Hero Anna.  Follow Super Sam’s amazing heart journey on his CaringBridge page.