Barry's Story
Baby Barry was diagnosed with Severe Coarctation of the Aorta and Mitral Valve regurgitation on July 18, 2008. His condition went undiagnosed for nearly 2.5 months before going into severe heart failure along with other problems. Since July 18, 2008 Barry has had 4 open-heart surgeries and many other procedures to try and fix his condition.
July 18, 2008:
This is the day it all started. My wife and I woke up to find my son in severe heart failure. We took him to Saint Vincent ER in Erie and they stabilized him enough to fly him to CHP. Baby Barry’s first open-heart surgery was on July 21, 2008 and Dr. Wearden reconstructed his Aorta due to a severe coarctation of the aorta. He was to unstable to try and do anything to his Mitral Valve. Unfortunately Barry’s Left Vocal Cord was permanently paralyzed during this procedure.
This is the day it all started. My wife and I woke up to find my son in severe heart failure. We took him to Saint Vincent ER in Erie and they stabilized him enough to fly him to CHP. Baby Barry’s first open-heart surgery was on July 21, 2008 and Dr. Wearden reconstructed his Aorta due to a severe coarctation of the aorta. He was to unstable to try and do anything to his Mitral Valve. Unfortunately Barry’s Left Vocal Cord was permanently paralyzed during this procedure.
November 7, 2008:
Baby Barry went back into severe heart failure due to severe regurgitation on the Mitral Valve. His 2nd open-heart surgery was on November 11, 2008 and Dr. Wearden/Dr.Morrel repaired his Mitral Valve. The repair was only a temp fix to give Barry more time to gain weight and become stronger.Even after the surgery his Mitral Valve still had moderate regurgitation.
Baby Barry went back into severe heart failure due to severe regurgitation on the Mitral Valve. His 2nd open-heart surgery was on November 11, 2008 and Dr. Wearden/Dr.Morrel repaired his Mitral Valve. The repair was only a temp fix to give Barry more time to gain weight and become stronger.Even after the surgery his Mitral Valve still had moderate regurgitation.
February 24, 2009:
For the third time, Barry went into Heart Failure. By this time Barry was extremely under weight due to all his surgeries and heart issues. Trying to get him to gain weight was a lot of work because of the heart over working and burning extra calories. On February 26, 2009 Barry had his third open-heart surgery and Dr. Morrel had to replace his Mitral Valve with a mechanical valve. This surgery went great and directly after Barry started gaining a lot of weight.
For the third time, Barry went into Heart Failure. By this time Barry was extremely under weight due to all his surgeries and heart issues. Trying to get him to gain weight was a lot of work because of the heart over working and burning extra calories. On February 26, 2009 Barry had his third open-heart surgery and Dr. Morrel had to replace his Mitral Valve with a mechanical valve. This surgery went great and directly after Barry started gaining a lot of weight.
May 16, 2009:
On this day Barry got very sick very quickly. He was again taken to CHP by Hamot Hospital of Erie. Barry went into severe heart failure and gave us one of our biggest scares. He had his first surgical procedure on May 16th to get a better look at his heart and they found a blood clot on his mechanical valve. So directly after this procedure around 1:00am on May 17th Dr. Morrel gave Barry his 4th open heart surgery and had to replace his Mechanical Valve with a new one.
On this day Barry got very sick very quickly. He was again taken to CHP by Hamot Hospital of Erie. Barry went into severe heart failure and gave us one of our biggest scares. He had his first surgical procedure on May 16th to get a better look at his heart and they found a blood clot on his mechanical valve. So directly after this procedure around 1:00am on May 17th Dr. Morrel gave Barry his 4th open heart surgery and had to replace his Mechanical Valve with a new one.
We are now in recovery stage and hoping that keeping his blood INR levels a little higher will stop anymore clotting.
