Rowell – Age 2 – Belize

Rowell’s arrival into the world was right on time and uneventful! His grandmother was the first person to notice something strange about the baby. She felt like his heart was beating so fast it was going to jump out of his tiny chest. A local doctor identified a heart murmur, but insisted the baby would outgrow it. Unfortunately, Rowell would be hospitalized with severe pneumonia several times a year and was failing to thrive. He was eventually diagnosed with not one – but two – holes in his heart, and surgery was required to treat his Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) and Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). Rowell’s mom was referred to HeartGift and her son was accepted. The pair trekked to the United States, where he received his life-saving heart surgery. He bounced back in record time and returned home in only three weeks! According to momma, the toddler is walking and talking ten-fold, and has tons of energy which he didn’t have before.