Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Drew's Slideshow

Here is the slide show and blurb that was shared at church on Sunday (put the cursor over the photos to see the captions):

Drew was born on February 9, 2004 and surprised his family with the news that along with a full head of hair, he also had a broken heart. Drew was diagnosed with an interrupted aortic arch and a large hole between the pumping chambers of his heart about 24 hours after he entered the world. His heart was unable to pump oxygenated blood to his body and he needed surgery to live.

There is no cure for Drew's disease, but a series of three surgeries is commonly performed. When Drew was one week old surgeons at UCSF performed the first stage, a Norwood procedure. After ten long weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit he was finally able to go home. He had a feeding tube and 9 different medications. In June 2004, when he was four months old surgeons performed his second heart surgery, the Glenn. He was in the hospital for three weeks. On Friday Drew will be having his next open-heart surgery at Stanford.

Drew has endured much in his first four years of life. He also has a compromised immune system, which means that he has a hard time fighting infections. He has been hospitalized with pneumonia at least once every year since he’s been born. Despite all he’s been through he is a very loving and trusting little boy. He enjoys life and loves his family, his friends and his dinosaurs!





7 comments:

Leslie said...

wow, i can't even see the monitor because my eyes are so teary!! drew's always had that incredible grin and super smiley eyes! it's so easy to see where he got them from when you're both in the pictures with him.

thinking of you guys lots this week!

Kathy said...

You guys are the PERFECT parents!
They're BOTH so cute...and Drew...he's such a strong young man. I LOVE LOVE LOVE...how normal you make his life...I look to you for the example of raising Isaac...
I love that he goes to preschool, that he goes out in the snow, lays out in the sun...and has the occasional hospital stay...just the norm for these guys..but, you make it look SO FUN!! (i'm taking notes!)
WE're praying for you guys this week!
Kathy

Anonymous said...

So glad Drew is doing so well with everything!! He is tremendously brave and I know he feels so much love and support from you guys!!I love you and will see you Friday!! Love, Jamie

Unknown said...

What a beautiful slide show. I've never seen baby pictures of Drew before..what a cutie!!!

First of all I want you to know how much I appreciate you. After reading your last comment and watching this video you give me such hope that Arianna's life will be normal. Thank you!! I looked up her CD-3 count and she is at 40% (if I'm looking at this right) We were told to go ahead with the live vaccines so it makes me wonder why our immunologists are telling us different things. I did look back at her previous CD-3 count from when she was a few months old and she was 50% then. I'm so clueless when it comes to this stuff..so hopefully it doesn't keep dropping. To be honest I don't even know what the CD-3 count is. Anyways, thank you for sharing your experience with me. I am going to start attending church every other Sunday cause I really feel like I need that back in my life. Me and Robert talked last night and we decided we will start doing things but just be cautious. No I won't take her to the grocery store (nasty place)or Wal-mart, but we will go to Target (just cleaner in my opinion) and little shopping trips. I still don't think we'll be taking her to the mountains but at least we will start our normal life. I agree with Kathy...you are doing an amazing job raising Drew. You are a great example for me and I am going to try and follow your foot steps. I want Arianna to go to preschool and do normal childhood things. If your Drew can do it...then why not Ariannna.

Thanks for all the inspiration! I am so blessed to have you as a friend.

I know this upcoming week will be hard but you have the strenght of the Lord by your side. Drew will do amazing and have more of a testimony to share with others.

God Bless,

Vanessa

The Portas said...

Look at that beautiful family! You can tell that you are such loving people and amazing parents. Drew looks SO LOVED.

Saying lots of prayers for you this week. Give Drew hugs for me!

xoxoxo

Unknown said...

I too, like Leslie, cried the entire way through the slide show.(Dang hormones!)
Thank you for not going through this alone and for allowing us to be there for you. Some people could have chosen to shut the entire world out for the simple reason of its just to much to let people in. But you have chosen to open up your life, let us love you and your family, and be there for you.

I am so glad that I got to know you more this year and I praise God for all he has done for your family.

Love, Elle

Unknown said...

I don't know you - i googled "1.5 ventricle repair" and your blog came up - i had my 3rd baby almost 3 weeks ago, April 5th and ironically his name is also Andrew "Drew"! he is in the Nicu now (in NYC) because he has a large tumor in his right ventricle - they are talking about doing the Glenn Shunt when he is a couple of months old. I am so scared and I don't know anyone else who has been through anything like this. I'm skimming parts of your blog and see that your son seems to be a healthy, thriving boy - this is giving me hope!!! my email is tamar73@gmail.com - any advice or hope is greatly appreciated during this difficult time - thank you