Hope with Heart

My son was born 23 years ago with a hole in his heart and a clogged valve, the medical term for it is Tetrology of Fallot. At the tender age of 2 and a half months old, he underwent open heart surgery and had a Teflon- like patch put on the hole and they opened up and widened his valve. The surgery was relatively new at the time as it had only been done for this type of problem on infants for five years.

My baby boy came through the surgery with flying colors and has been able to live a life with normal activity. But because of the scar he displayed on his chest from the surgery he was eligible to attend a couple of different camps for children who have undergone heart surgery.

I didn't realize until he went away to the heart camp that he always felt uncomfortable about the scar on his chest. Whenever he was swimming with his friends, the other kids questioned his scar. He felt different from the other kids and the first time he went swimming at the heart camp with a pool full of other kids with scars on their chests, he felt like he really belonged.

His heart camp friends have become like a second family to him over the years, and as he became older he decided he wanted to become a counselor at the camp.

He came home this week from working at heart camp and as always, he comes home on a emotional high as well as an emotional low. Over the years my son has experienced the loss of many of his campers and counselors who were not as lucky to survive the broken hearts that they were born with.

He met a young boy this summer who has been waiting for a heart transplant. His parents found out on the week of his birthday that he is not going to be eligible for the transplant, dashing all their hopes for some kind of medical intervention that could save his life.

So they pick him up from camp, knowing that they will have to give him the news that he will not be getting the only birthday present he really wanted, the only gift that he really needed.

I listen to my son tell me about how great camp is, how happy the parents are because most of them don't see their kids smiling at all during the year because they are hospitalized most of the time, not only with heart problems, but cancers and other rare diseases on top of that.

It is hard for him to see his campers getting sicker each year instead of better. As a mother I count our blessings and admire the way my son has made a commitment to the camp and how he deals with the sadness of it all. I am proud of the man he has become.

I know that the camp has a theme song... We all need somebody to lean on...and some people sure need a lot more folks to lean on than most of us... and I send them prayers every single day.