Baby Jack had a narrowed heart valve that was discovered during his mom Amy’s 20-week ultrasound. Blood couldn’t flow properly to nourish his body. The family’s local doctor said there was nothing they could do and sent them to Boston Children’s Hospital for answers.
Here, doctors performed two operations on Jack’s heart while he was still in-utero and another after he was born. Unfortunately, his heart valve was still closing and future repairs wouldn’t help. Jack would need a new heart valve.
A challenging choice
Parents Amy and Chris had a tough decision to make: They could choose a time-tested method, which might mean more surgeries for Jack when he’s older. Or, they could choose a new method, a partial heart transplant. Boston Children’s, a worldwide leader in the care of pediatric heart conditions, established best practices for the procedure eight years ago and was waiting for an ideal patient.
The partial heart transplant would give Jack a healthy heart valve from a donor. The valve would grow along with Jack and minimize the need for future surgeries.
With Jack’s future and well-being in mind, they chose the partial heart transplant, and a donor was available at just the right moment. It was the first transplant of its kind in New England. Amy and Chris hope it’s Jack’s last surgery.
An optimistic outlook
“Our goal was to give Jack the highest quality of life possible with the least number of medical interventions,” Amy says.
Today, Jack is healthy and active. He’s 5 and loves monster trucks and fire trucks. He even wants to be a firefighter when he grows up. Hearing Jack plan for his future fills Amy and Chris with gratitude, both for the care he received at Boston Children’s and for the selfless donor family who helped save Jack.
