Story of a 44 year old Transposition Survivor...

Do you ever feel like God puts you in the right place at the right time and you just happen to talk to the right person... I had one of those moments at the Duke Children's Radiothon last week. A little background... I spent a few hours in the morning working on the "phones". I ran into one of Jacob's nurses, Mary Jo. She was a PICU nurse for 17 years and left PICU for the "clinic" just last year. We had a very interesting discussion about the history of CHD and all she has seen. She relayed that many years ago, TGA babies were the sickest she cared for. HLHS babies were basically sent home because nothing could be done. She has seen an amazing amount of advancement in the treatment of CHD.

Later on in the day, I volunteered at the "Merchandise Sales" table, which I loved because I got the chance to talk to lots of people. Anyone who knows me IRL knows I love to talk! One woman, I'll call her, "Lynn" came up to peruse the T-shirts, and other items we were selling with the Duke Children's logo. She was wearing a shirt that said, "I got my New Heart at Duke."
Here is a part of our conversation:

Me: I like your shirt!
Lynn: Yep, 21 months now.
Me: My son is a Duke heart patient.
Lynn: I have been a Duke heart patient many years.
Me: My son has a congenital heart defect.
Lynn: So do I.
Me: Really, which one?
Lynn: Transposition of the Great Vessels.
Me: Wow. That's what my son has.

We went on to discuss that Lynn has had 5 open heart surgeries and two strokes, culminating in the heart transplant 21 months ago. She told me she was born in 1963!! This would make her around 44 years old. She had her first surgery, the Mustard, in 1975. She related she has spent a lot of time in hospitals and her health has obviously not been great. I told her that of course, Jacob had the arterial switch operation, and as she was well aware, that was the only "planned" surgery he would need barring no complications. She was off to work the phone bank, but it was a less than 5 minute conversation that I will NEVER forget. How different Jacob's life will be only because of the advances made in medicine. Dr. Jatene - we thank you & salute you!!

I believe "Lynn" to be one of the oldest living survivors of Transposition & the Mustard/Senning. I did some good ole Googling and found several people who are 35 and claim to be the oldest TGA people. I did find one 44 year old gentleman too. If anyone knows of an older one, I'd love to hear about it.

I do have another Transposition "survivor" story.... it's a good one too. I'll save it for later!