Oliver: Conquering Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

“There’s something wrong with your baby’s heart.”

Those are words no expecting parent ever wants to hear. For Becca and Alex, it happened during what should have been a joyful 20-week ultrasound — the moment they found out they were having a baby boy. This moment quickly filled with fear and uncertainty.

“In a matter of 10 minutes, our world changed,” Becca says.

Learning about hypoplastic left heart syndrome

Doctors diagnosed Oliver with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a rare and serious congenital heart defect. In babies with HLHS, the left side of the heart is underdeveloped and can’t pump oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body, requiring complex surgeries early in life.

After the diagnosis, Becca and Alex’s local doctor referred them to the Colorado Fetal Care Center at Children’s Hospital Colorado, where they could receive the specialized care their baby would need. Becca immediately reached out.

“I emailed, and in 12 minutes I got a response,” Becca recalls. “The center was so hopeful and welcoming. We set up appointments right away, and the second we walked in those doors, we knew this was the place we had to be.” 

A safe start and successful heart surgeries

Our fetal care experts helped Becca and Alex navigate the rest of the pregnancy with confidence. When it came time for delivery, everything was in place to give Oliver the safest start possible. He was born without complications, but just two days later, it was time for his first open-heart surgery.

Becca remembers anxiously awaiting the results of Oliver’s surgery when cardiothoracic surgeon James Jaggers, MD, emerged, flashing two big thumbs up.

“That moment meant everything to us,” she says.

Oliver went on to have two more successful heart surgeries, all before his third birthday. He continues to receive follow-up care to monitor his growth and make sure he stays healthy and strong.

“Some people said he might be low energy,” Alex says, smiling. “But I’ve yet to see that. If you saw him outside the hospital, you’d never guess he has a congenital heart defect.”

Hope, heart and healing

Oliver continues to thrive. He runs, climbs, laughs and plays like any other child his age — full of joy, curiosity and energy.

“Children’s Colorado gave us life,” says Becca. “They gave us the ultimate gift in making sure our baby could grow to be a happy, healthy toddler, doing all of the normal kid stuff.”

The journey hasn’t always been easy, but thanks to an early diagnosis, expert care and a team that never gave up, Oliver has a bright future ahead.