Introduction and Inspiration

Our son was born full term by an emergency c-section after his heartrate dropped during labor. Johnny was quickly brought out in under a min.He was diagnosed at 20 weeks of pregnancy with Heterotaxy, asplenia and several heart defects. He is a beautiful baby who loves to suck on a binky when he's allowed!

He was extubated for the first time at 7 days for about 12 hours. This attempt failed due to low cardiac output syndrome and multisystem organ dysfunction.
Johnny had his first surgery at age 3weeks and 2 days. He had a pulmonary band put on to restrict blood flow to his lungs and help circulation throughout his body. He also had his newborn ductus closed. That was June 12th, the next day he had his second surgery. Johnny needed the band to be a little tighter. He also had a second chest tube and a belly tube put in to reduce the pressure from the excess fluid.
On July 13th, after a month of not enough progress and still intubated living in the hospital, Johnny had his 1st Open Heart surgery. Dr. del Nido repaired the leaky valve, made it into two valves and removed and abnormal growth in his right ventricle. His right ventricle had an immediate response in size... nothing short of a miracle.
On August 5th, Johnny's condition plumeted. He went into heart failure, kidney failure and liver failure. A heart cath was done to determine the cause for this drastic change as well as a liver biopsy. The results of these tests showed Johnny was in end stage liver disease. He was suffering from seizures, had damage to his lungs due to being on the vent for so long, his kidneys were very sick and near failure, his heart was in a good place but the rest of his body had gotten to sick to recover. We said goodbye with our family to our little boy and on August 12, 2009, Johnny Austin King passed away.

He had become an incredible inspiration to so many. His soul and spirit was strong and remains with us. It is for Johnny but also with Johnny that I am moving forward with the battle of CHD's. Spreading the word and raising money. So many suffer from Congenital Heart Defects everyday.... 40,000 newborns each year will be diagnosed with a CHD. It is the number 1 birth defect. Help me spread awareness through this website and through events and activites. If you are doing something for CHD Awareness, post it here. Together we can take a Broken Heart and become a Healed Community.