Chris was 15 years outdated when he determined that he wished to be a firefighter. This was a daring transfer on the time, when most sufferers together with his congenital coronary heart situation — dextro-transposition of the nice arteries, or d-TGA — have been suggested to keep away from train and strenuous exercise. However Chris was already pushing these boundaries as a devoted athlete, and his physician, Youngsters’s Hospital Colorado Grownup Congenital Coronary heart Illness Director Joseph Kay, MD, supported him each step of the best way.
Chris’ want to remain energetic has drastically improved his personal high quality of life, and it helps the d-TGA sufferers that come after him. “Chris actually pushed our understanding of how vital train is for the very complicated congenital coronary heart defects,” Dr. Kay says. “He went all out and exercised like loopy, and that was one of the best factor for his coronary heart.”
A long time later, Chris is fulfilling his dream of working as a firefighter, and he continues to set a brand new precedent for sufferers with d-TGA. He nonetheless visits Dr. Kay for care and steering relating to his situation, and the 2 share a trusted bond.
“If I wish to name him, he’ll at all times get again to me. And since we’ve constructed that belief, when he recommends I get a check executed, when he recommends I get a process executed, I’m like, ‘completely, let’s attempt it,’” Chris says. “I do know that what he’s asking me to do is twofold: primary it’s for my finest curiosity, and quantity two, they’re doing all the things they will to make issues higher for the subsequent technology.”
This relationship is a trademark of the Grownup Congenital Coronary heart Illness Program at Youngsters’s Colorado, the place sufferers born with a coronary heart situation can obtain look after life. The truth is, this system sees greater than 2,000 sufferers yearly and it’s the one heart in Colorado accredited by Grownup Congenital Coronary heart Affiliation (ACHA). The grownup coronary heart program can also be located inside the nationally ranked Coronary heart Institute at Youngsters’s Colorado, which exceeds a number of nationwide benchmarks and boasts a 97.9% cardiac survival fee throughout all age teams.
Sufferers have entry to a multidisciplinary staff that features grownup congenital coronary heart illness specialists, congenital coronary heart surgeons, coronary heart imaging specialists, geneticists, psychologists, high-risk obstetricians, electrophysiologists, nurses and social employees, all of whom are skilled to look after the distinctive challenges of rising up with a congenital coronary heart situation.
These groups work collectively to coordinate a novel care plan for every affected person, which adapts and evolves as youngsters develop. Most significantly, physicians like Dr. Kay are skilled and able to guarantee the very best quality of life for many who started with the percentages stacked towards them.
For extra details about applications on the Youngsters’s Colorado Coronary heart Institute, go to our web site or name 720-777-2243.
Watch Chris’ story
*This weblog publish is sponsored by the Coronary heart Institute at Youngsters’s Hospital Colorado. Persistently ranked by U.S. Information & World Report, the Coronary heart Institute cares for all congenital and childhood coronary heart illnesses. This system is the biggest within the Rocky Mountain area that maintains distinctive outcomes, with experience in each open and minimally invasive coronary heart surgical procedure. The huge expertise of their multidisciplinary coronary heart staff permits them to proceed to supply individualized care to every affected person they deal with throughout the continuum, from the tiniest infants to completely grown adults.