About eight hours after Luke was born via emergency C-section, the nurses noticed that he was turning blue and transferred him to the NICU. At first, the doctors thought it might be an infection, but after some monitoring, it was determined he had a severe heart defect: Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia. He was also born without a pulmonary artery — there was no way for blood to get from his heart to his lungs.
About 14 hours after Luke was born, he was transferred to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), where he stayed in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU) for about 3 1/2 weeks. He underwent his first surgery at 3 days old and another at 5 1/2 months. At age 5, he returned to CHLA for yet another.
“He’s been holding stable, and he’s doing great,” said South Pasadena resident Jodi Reagan, the mother of Luke, now 12, Jack, 9, and Thomas, 7. “He’ll probably need another procedure within the next two or three years.” . . .
Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.
