Introducing Heart Warrior, Walker! During his 20-week anatomy scan, Walker’s family learned his heart was different. After meeting with cardiology, they were prepared for assessment at birth. Walker was born with VSDs and ASDs, or holes in his heart, and was closely monitored by his cardiologist in his early months.
At 3 months old, Walker had his first open-heart surgery to close the holes in his heart. The holes were more extensive than expected, making the surgery much longer. The next day, he went into cardiac arrest, was placed on ECMO, and needed a permanent pacemaker due to his heart’s rhythm not returning. After 8 weeks, Walker was strong enough to go home at 5 months old.
Walker was closely monitored in the years that followed and underwent a few heart catheterizations. After moving from San Francisco to NY in 2023, he faced multiple respiratory illnesses that led to hospitalizations and heart failure. His tricuspid and mitral valves were leaking, and after consulting with Boston Children’s Hospital, his family was advised that another surgery was necessary.
In June 2024, when Walker was 5 years old, his family traveled from New York to Boston Children’s Hospital. He underwent his second open heart surgery to repair his mitral valve, tricuspid valve, replace his pacemaker, undergo an ablation, and reduce the size of his right atrium. Surgery was extremely successful, and ever so slowly but surely Walker recovered. 10 weeks after Walker’s family arrived in Boston, he got the blessing from his incredible cardiology team that he could return to NY.
Walker’s family shares, “We joke that though the summer was not what we ever envisioned for Walker, especially at 5 years old, he thrived with all the incredible programming at Boston Children’s, and attended his own unique version of camp last summer, and made some very brave, lifelong friends during his time there. We are forever grateful for Live4Evan for allowing our family to remain together, steps away from Walker and Boston Children’s throughout surgery and recovery.”
We are so glad we were able to provide Walker’s family with affordable, temporary housing while he was at Boston Children’s Hospital receiving treatment and thank them for sharing Walker’s story!
