Alyse Cannon's Story
By: Donna Cannon
Submitted by: Deborah Shook, Youth Market Director, American Heart Association, Mid-Atlantic Affiliate

Alyse is now 14 years old and is in her freshman year of high school. Fourteen years ago, we weren’t sure if she would make it to high school or not. Alyse was born with a rare heart defect called Epstein’s Anomaly of the Tricuspid Valve and she also had two holes in her heart (ASD & VSD). She was the first patient at Sanger clinic in Charlotte, NC to have this particular combination of defects. She had her first surgery at 11 months old to close the two holes in her heart. Two days later they did emergency surgery to take out her tricuspid valve and put in a St. Jude’s mechanical valve. Alyse is the only child at her age to live through this surgery performed by Dr. Mark Steigle. Fourteen days after surgery they decided that she needed an internal pacemaker because the bottom of her heart was not beating in sync with the top part of heart. Alyse spent a month at Carolina’s Medical Center. Alyse had several complications within that year and a year after her first surgery she had yet another surgery to replace the mechanical valve with a porcine pig valve. Alyse did very well after that surgery and made it all the way to second grade before her next stay in the hospital. In the second grade, the wires to Alyse’s pacemaker fractured and had to be replaced. In the 8 th grade, Alyse had to have her pacemaker replaced yet again when the battery ran low.

To look at Alyse, no one would ever know that she is has gone through so much. Alyse has taken dance for 9 years and has enjoyed competing for the past 4 years. She is very active. Alyse is able to do just about anything she wants to. She has participated in Hoops For Heart at Kings Mountain Middle School. Hoops For Heart has always been special to us because of Alyse. A friend of the family, who is a doctor, told us that if Alyse had been born just five years earlier, the doctors would have only been able to make her comfortable. It is because of the American Heart Association’s research and training that Alyse is able to live an active and productive life. Without her heart valve, her pacemaker and the trained doctors and nurses, Alyse would not be here today. Alyse has almost died three times from various complications, but through today’s medical technology and God, she is here with us and God has a special plan for her life.

Dana's Story
By: Anita and David Baldwin
Submitted by: Deborah Shook, Youth market Director, American Heart Association, Mid-Atlantic Affiliate

Dana Baldwin, a third grader at North Buncombe Elementary School, was born on Oct. 3, 1997. Like most other newborns, she was full term and of good birth weight. Right away, the nurses noticed the blue tint in Dana’s lips and fingertips. Dana was born with a congenital heart defect.

Dr. Tripp, Dana’s cardiologist, explained that Dana only had three chambers in her heart and that we had two choices: enjoy Dana and watch her die within the week or take a chance with a new procedure called the Fontaine Procedure. We had to give Dana every chance we could. That night around midnight, Dana was flown by helicopter to Duke Hospital. When Dana was two days old, she went through the first of three surgeries that make up the Fontaine Procedure. She came home ten days after her birth.

The second part of the Fontaine Procedure was done when Dana was three months old. Dana had complications when they tried

to take her off the heart and lung machine, it didn’t work. A vascular surgeon observing the surgery suggested trying some experimental stints. The stints worked, but Dana had to stay in the hospital quite a while to recover.

Dana had regular check-ups and cauterizations to see that things were as they should be. She also had hand surgery to allow her more use of her hand as it did not develop normally due to the lack of oxygen before she was born. Dana’s third open-heart surgery was done when she was three years old. The surgery went well and she came home in two weeks.

In 2003, when Dana was five years old, she had a microscopic procedure done to close off a valve. Two years later, Dana had a pacemaker put in.

We love Dana very much and are very glad we have her in our lives. If Dana had been born a few years earlier, there would have been little the doctors could have done to save her. Research and education have produced advances that made Dana’s treatments possible. The American Heart Association makes this research and education possible and the good news is that these advances keep coming and could help someone you love have a better, stronger life.

Thank you American Heart Association!