MI from the Heart Day WTKA
Today is the annual WTKA telethon benefitting programs for patients and families at C.S. Mott children’s Hospital, which BTW is one of the best pediatric hospitals in America. Overall, Mott was one of just 23 hospitals nationwide ranked in all 10 evaluated specialties. We are blessed to have such a great institution in our state.
As a parent of rare Mo-Mo twins born at Mott with one having a Congenital Heart Defect(CHD) I am eternally grateful for the work and care from the CS Mott staff. From the volunteers, parking attendants, info desk staff, security, cafeteria workers, clerks, environmental services, nurses, techs, to the physicians, EVERYONE there is GREAT.
We are very fortunate that our son’s surgeon is the Gordie Howe/Barry Sanders/Isaiah Thomas/Al Kaline of pediatric heart surgeons. Dr. Bove is the greatest. It takes a special person to take on the responsibility of trying to repair/alter/re-route such tiny problematic hearts. Through 3 planned surgeries and 1 unplanned over 2 years we realize the skill and dedication that it takes to get these kids to a more normal life.
Aside from the excellent medical care, the visits from the student athletes and volunteers helped make an abnormal and mostly stressful series of events much more manageable. Michigan From the Heart does an excellent job of supporting these kids and families while at Mott. I’ll never forget what they’ve done for my son and family.
That must have been pretty scary. My friend had mo/mo twins and lost one at 26 weeks, and nearly lost the other, but she made it through 4 months in the NICU at Mott. They were told from the very beginning that the odds were against them bringing either one home.
That was a shocking bit of news when we saw that the boys were mo-mo. Due to working in the adult cardiology field I could see on the ultrasound at about 20 weeks in that one of them had problems with the formation of his heart. My wife spent about a month at Mott before they delivered at 32 weeks, which is later than they like for mo-mos due to risks of entanglement and compression on cords. but it gave my son more beneficial time in utero for his heart condition. She told me of one early morning that the team all of sudden rushed into her room and they were wheeling her and prepping for a c-section. They were not able to detect the boys heart beats for a time but fortunately they were detected on the way to the OR. She didn’t even have time to call me and I was 90 min away with our 2 year old.
It must have been crushing for your friend. My heart goes out to those who couldn’t take both of their mo-mos home. The NICU staff is one of a kind. It takes a special nurse to handle the ups and downs of seeing the miraculous survivals and crushing losses. We still have our Maize and Blue NICU blankets.