SPOKANE, Wash. – February 14 is known as Valentine’s Day to millions of people, but for one three-year-old boy and his family, this day will always be the anniversary of his first liver transplant, which led to his congenital heart disease diagnosis.
“I don’t think anybody expects a transplant or congenital heart defects to be a thing for them, but it is for us, and we just take it as it comes,” Brenda Hadley, Karl Hadley’s mom, said.
It is American Heart Month, and more children than you would expect are living with congenital heart disease (CHD). According to Project Heart, 1.35 million babies are born with CHD worldwide every year. There are about two to three million adults and children living with CHD in the United States right now.
According to the CDC, about 40,000 babies are born with CHD in the US every year. And 1 in 4 of those babies have a critical case of the disease, likely leading to serious surgery within their first year of life. About 97% of babies born with a non-critical CHD are expected to survive to at least one year of age. About 75% of babies born with a critical CHD are expected to survive to at least one year of age.
“Heart disease is the most common congenital anomaly, or abnormality seen in children, where one percent of all people have a form of congenital anomaly. That is 60 times more common than childhood cancer,” Providence Sacred Heart Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. Carl Garabedian said.
In this story, there are two people with the same name, spelled differently. There is Carl with a “C” and Karl with a “K.” Two people, two spellings, united by one heart: Karl’s.
“We call him Karl with a K, I’m Carl with a C,” Dr. Garabedian said. “We got to make sure we know who is in the room.”
Going on 23 years out of his training, Dr. Garabedian has treated countless children and adults – many kids who now have kids of their own.
“I take care of people born with heart conditions, I don’t care if you’re a kid or an adult,” he said. “It’s not just caring for the kid, it’s caring for the family, and that’s actually even more rewarding than just caring for the kid themselves.”
And on February 14, 2024 – Dr. Garabedian’s patient, Karl, was in for a special surprise on the anniversary of his first major surgery.
Three years ago, on Valentine’s Day, when Karl was only a few weeks old, he received a life-saving liver transplant.
“We put him on the donor list on a Friday afternoon around three, and that night at 12, we got a call that we had a donor, and so he went into surgery that next day,” Hadley said.
Despite the successful procedure, another challenge emerged when doctors performed a routine scan of the young boy’s body; Karl was diagnosed with congenital heart disease.
“They discovered that he had Pulmonary Vein Stenosis, which is where the veins between the lungs and the heart narrow,” Hadley said.
Since then, Karl has undergone open-heart surgery and 17 heart catheterizations, yet his spirit remains unwavering. When he walked into the hospital room Wednesday at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital, ready for his routine check-up, Karl found a present tied with a batch of balloons.
A present gifted by the care team at Sacred Heart, to signify three years of growth, perseverance, and bravery.
“The amazing thing about this kiddo is, he’s happy,” Dr. Garabedian said. “Some kids, they turn around the corner, they see the building, and they all want to do is scream.”
Surrounded by love and receiving top-notch care, right here in Spokane at a nationally accredited program, Karl embodies the resilience of children living with congenital heart defects.
“Because of the incredible successes that we’ve had in cardiac surgery and in catheterization techniques, children are now living to become adults. It was the year 2000 where we finally had more adults with kid heart problems than kids with kid heart problems, because they’re living and surviving,” Dr. Garabedian said. “The problem with that is they’re surviving and having more complex problems than we ever really knew about before, and that’s why our program here at Sacred Heart Hospital, has developed a nationally accredited program, called PATCH.”
Busy playing with his new toys, pulling the balloons down and letting them fly up again, three-year-old Karl with a K is blissfully happy, unaware of how serious his condition is. There is a long road ahead, but Carl with a C is confident his patient as a great shot at growing up.
“I’m always an optimist and that came from my father, and that is who I am and always will be,” Garabedian said.
And Karl’s parents, strong, kind, and loving, are taking things day by day.
“It’s still an unknown, we don’t know if he’s going to beat the Pulmonary Vein Stenosis, or if it’s going to beat him,” Randy Hadley, Karl’s dad, said.
“We have fun together and that’s what matters,” Karl’s mom said.
This is the story of Karl with a K, Carl with a C, and a family and medical team full of love and support; a symbol of strength and hope, here in our beloved community of Spokane.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
