Project Acorn: Helping Hands for David's Heart Journey

04/25/2023

3 weeks since heart transplant surgery. 💪 💪

🫀 This little heart of mine, 💫 ✨
🫀 I’m gonna let it shine 💫 ✨

3 weeks since heart transplant surgery. 💪 💪

04/18/2023

HOME! 🏡

Because of a donor 🫀

04/15/2023

1 year later, and we can't wait for David to come back home. 🏡 It IS amazing at how things have a way of working out! ❤️‍🩹

📋 David's Amazon wish list has been updated with a few items that will help his family make his room at home ready for his eventual arrival:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/N29JXM3ZL5RX

One year ago today David underwent a complex open heart surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital, 1200 miles from home. The goal was for him to ultimately have a heart with *two* functioning ventricles.

One year later, and here he is with a heart that has TWO functioning ventricles.

Funny how things have their own way of working out. 🫀

04/12/2023

It's been 1️⃣1️⃣2️⃣ days since these 2 brothers have lived under the same roof, but David is on trajectory to be HOME before month's end! 🏠

So much has changed for David in that time: turning 3️⃣ and getting a new 🫀 are just a couple! David's Amazon wish list has been updated with a few items that will help his family make his room at home ready for his eventual arrival:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/N29JXM3ZL5RX

04/12/2023

❤ Because of a donor 🫀

“If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.”
-Frank Lane

Day 7 post heart transplant surgery.

Don’t let that nasal cannula fool you — he’s been off oxygen since overnight last night. It’s just easier to leave it than to torture him with more sticker removal. I’ve always been proud of the way he handles all the poking and prodding, but after surgery he’s totally over it. Can’t blame him, so we let him call the shots whenever possible.

His progress continues to leave me speechless.

We’re on the trajectory to be HOME before month’s end.

Thankful. Grateful.

04/06/2023

🐾❤

Day 2 post heart transplant surgery. Can you believe this?
💫 ✨

This was David’s fourth heart surgery. He has *never* had a recovery trajectory as amazing as this.

Chad, the therapy dog, was a welcome sight today.

Thankful. Grateful.

Because of a donor. 🫀

04/04/2023

A new heart, strengthened with fortitude and filled with gratitude 💞

🏥 day 102
🫀 day 1

April 3, 2023: David’s new heart beats within his chest.

His chest is closed. They’re already talking about extubating in the morning. His post-surgery echocardiogram looks AMAZING.

He is not out of the woods, but he’s literally in the best condition he could be considering the big day he had.

David no longer has a congenital heart defect. He is no longer in heart failure. He has a fully functional heart.

We are eternally grateful for David’s donor hero who gave him the gift of life. 🫀

04/03/2023

Today, the most generous donation of David's journey has been confirmed: a donor heart 💫❤ 💫

We (David's extended family) are--and will always be--eternally grateful for this gift of life. In this dark hour, their family had the fortitude to donate life. We pray that this selfless gift brings solace in their time of mourning. After all, without this decision, there would be no hope, nor life.

We pray that this heart is the perfect fit for David's anatomy, and that the incredible, complex process to follow over the next 24 hours runs seamlessly. We pray that David's spirit and body remain as strong as ever, and that his strength carries over to an efficient and effective recovery.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all of our donors that allowed David and his family to be present along this journey. Our eternal gratitude to David's ultimate donor and their family will forever be in our hearts and on our minds ❤

https://m.facebook.com/davidVSgoliathHLHS

03/31/2023

👀 Watching & waiting for that perfect fit 🫀

The eyes say it all. 😍

Waitlist day 81. Not much to report. David remains stable and we are grateful. ❤️

03/23/2023

🥳 Happy Birthday, David! 🎂

At 3 years old, it's been:
🏥 3 months since David entered the hospital
🫀 74 days waiting for a new heart

Here's to 3 being David's lucky charm 🍀 with lots of hope and new beginnings on his next trip around the sun with Cookie Monster 🌈

03/12/2023

Finding the perfect fit takes time. 🫀

Miracles do happen. 💫 ✨

______________________________________

For a refresher on how the organ donor waitlist works, check out UNOS’s website: www.unos.org

Last week David was 6th in line for a donor heart. His team said that even if it came to him, they wouldn’t have accepted it. It wasn’t perfect.

Yesterday David was 7th in line for a donor heart. Number 4 got it, but again, even if it came to him, his team wouldn’t have accepted it. It wasn’t perfect.

He’s in such great shape, they’ll settle for nothing less than perfect. This is a great position to be in — the best position.

It will come. 💫 ✨

______________________________________

A refresher on how the organ donor waitlist works, taken from UNOS’s website (www.unos.org):

“Many people often think that the national organ transplant waitlist is a static list, like a grocery store checkout line. However, the waitlist is a dynamic, ever-changing pool of information. Where a patient may appear at any point depends on a number of variables about the organs available and about other people in similar need of a transplant. We run these donor and organ characteristics against the list of patients waiting for a transplant who match key factors for that specific organ. Since there is a shortage of organs suitable for donation as compared to the number of those waiting for a transplant, at UNOS we generate a new list for every available organ in order to make the best match for a successful transplant.”