Story told by Mark Musser, an adult living with CHD 
                                                                                                

    

 I don't know how it happened. It just did. I was born a blue baby. My parents didn't realize it at first. It wasn't until a few months after I was born that my father noticed my feet looked as if my mom was cutting off the circulation by the way she held me. She held her kids, sometimes, like a football player holds a football.  It was 1969. I have only the details

 to relate that have been told to me. I was taken to Spohn Hospital where we resided and that is where it all began.
    The doctors proclaimed, "You have a blue baby". Shocked and mesmerized, my parents frantically began a journey on a road of challenges and triumphs. 
     I could explain all the details but it would take a book to tell you my whole life story. Many of you may already be familiar with the processes that occur when a child is born blue.
     My parents sought help from doctors who had previous experience with these kids and were told that surgery was the only option if they wanted me to survive. Most blue babies born at that time had little change of seeing age fourteen.  So after considering many options, it was decided that we would journey to Houston, and have Dr. Denton Cooley perform an open-heart surgery at Texas Children's Hospital.
      Houston at the time was bustling with growth. I remember looking out of the windows at TCH and seeing cranes that built buildings. I remember the love and support I received from nurses. I remember being with my grandmothers, my brother and sister, and those aunts and uncles who could be there.
     The first surgery took and and I leapt from the hospital bed into my mother's arms as soon as I saw her in the room. I wanted pizza!  Later I went home to Corpus to a wonderful welcome home party. My mother had saved all the syringes that had been poked into me and some were huge!  Without the needles of course, they were distributed and the neighborhood had a water fight in the backyard.  For the first time, I didn't have to stop to catch my breath. Success!!  My lips were red, instead of ashen, which is the color my parents used to describe them before the surgery.
     A few months later, my mother noticed that something wasn't right.  I was breathing too much and too fast. Frantically, we made the journey back to Houston.
     I really don't remember the second surgery. But there wasn't a big party the second time.   A patch that was had been used to cover the hole in my heart wasn't just right. So they had to go in and fix it one more time.
     I am now 40 going on 41 and I haven't grown up that much. I tell people I am 17 and insane. I heard that somewhere once and it sounds cool. I think it is true.
    I was diagnosed with transposition of the great arteries and it was "corrected" by the Mustard Procedure. I thank Dr. Cooley, my surgeon. I thank Dr. Mullins for being a spectacular pediatrician. I thank Texas Childrens Hospital. And I thank my family. And really I thank God most of all for blessing me with this insane life I lead. And I thank Corrie, too. Her group has let me know there are many more of me out there. I have only met a few kids with heart conditions similar to mine.  I hope they see through me that scar tissue is stronger than other tissue. So I am hoping to see at least 80 years old. If that is the case I am half way there, and happy to be here. Peace.

If you have a heart journey you would like to share, please email your story to newsletter@itsmyheart.org

picture taken at IMH Chapter Officers Training Retreat 2009 

 

 It's My Heart Fresno Chapter was established in June 2008 as the first west coast
chapter of the national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In August 2008, IMH began
a hospital program in partnership with Children's Hospital Central California; over

100 comfort bags were given the first year to families going through open heart
surgery. Families receive the 'care packages' from cardiac nurses and social workers
during their hospital stay. IMH Fresno receives donations from the community
and raises funds to keep the programs in place.

 

It's My Heart began in Houston, Texas, after Corrie Stassen gave birth to her son
Noah in December 2003. Noah was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
(HLHS) and Dextrocardia. Corrie immediately began searching for information and
support, but found that the community lacked a CHD support system. After countless
hospital visits, including Noah undergoing a heart transplant, and the emotional
journey of raising a child with CHD, Corrie knew that other families would benefit
from the same kind of support system she had been searching for. In March 2005,
Corrie established It's My Heart and her journey to spread CHD awareness and
education began. Sadly, Corrie lost her son Noah in May of 2006 from Transplant
Coronary Artery Disease, but has used her experience and her love of Noah to grow
It's My Heart into the national organization it is today.

 

 
Volunteers:
It's My Heart Fresno has many volunteer opportunities available for all, whether
you live in or out of town. For more information, please visit www.itsmyheart.org,
email Pamela.camit@itsmyheart.org or call 559.355.2676.

 

 

                                     

 

Jake McCathran                      Zachary Shafer                                 Victoria Sue Gardner        

February 1, 2007         February 19, 2007 ~ December 8, 2008            February 20, 1996        

 

 
                                             

                  

     Jacqueline Rose Smith            Isaac Anthony Lopez           Henry Johnston

       February 23, 2008                   February 26, 2009           February 20, 2007

        

 

"I cannot tell you how blessed and happy I feel to see families with children with CHD living happy and healthy lives. What a MIRACLE!!! My son, Phillip, was born on 04/11/84 and was diagnosed with transposition of the great vessels. At the time there was no medical "Hope" and he lives in my heart and soul! I will be walking here in our town on 02/27/10 (IMH Fresno Chapter Walk) to help! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK "IT'S MY HEART!"

~Carrie from It's My Heart Facebook  
Do you know someone who loves IMH?  Send a story of how someone you know reached out to the CHD community! Email newsletter@itsmyheart.org.