David Alexander was born in June of 2013. A day after he was born, the doctor order an ultrasound to check his heart. When he was in the belly they never got to see his heart because he would always move a lot. The doctor always said he looked fine but he wanted to make sure everything looked well... The ultrasound took a couple of hours and they did not bring him back. The cardiologist came in and told us the news; David had a heart defect called tetralogy of fallot; they were going to fly him to Vegas that same night. They intubated him and I said goodbye; the doctor didn’t let me go with David. When I did get to Vegas a few days later, David was still intubated and they had him under a medicine to keep one of his vessels open so it could take more blood to his left lung. Two weeks later, he was having episodes where he wouldn’t breath. He would have his first open heart surgery. The doctors left his chest open for three days to make sure David wasn’t retaining any fluids. It took him a few days to eat and that’s all we were working on to take him home.

David was diagnosed with DiGeorge syndrome and they did a lot of blood work to make sure his immune system was making enough t-cells and to make sure his calcium levels were good. We finally got to go home when he was two months old and now we just have to go to therapy so he can learn more things. David also goes to the cardiologist and pediatrician, to an immunologist, and a geneticist.

We have our hands full, but David is such a strong and intelligent little boy. He is doing ok right now but we still to have two more open heart surgeries and we might have the second one when he is around six to nine months old. We just want support on this and to learn more about other parents and kids that are going through the same situation as our family.