I ride to give hope to Children's Hospital Colorado patients like my daughter Mackenzie.
I am riding in the Courage Classic this July. It’s a fundraiser for Children’s Hospital of Colorado.
I am riding for the Cardiac Team due to my daughter being born with HLHS. As a department,
if we reach 50k raised or more, all of that money will stay in the cardiac unit for research on
congenital heart defects. My goal is to raise at least $2000. Any support
is greatly appreciated. I’ll be riding 80+ miles in the Rocky Mountains over two days and I am
not a cyclist by any means. This year I live in Texas, so the altitude of this ride will be a real challenge but it doesn't compare to the challenges our heart warriors face on a daily basis.
Below is Mackenzie’s story, my daughter.
Mackenzie was born at 36 weeks’ gestation with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, aortic atresia,
and pulmonary artery stenosis. She had her first open heart surgery, the Norwood-Sano
procedure, at 4 days old, at the Heart Institute of Children's Hospital Colorado. She had vocal
cord paresis as a result of her surgery and could not nurse or take a bottle, so surgeons placed
a g-tube in her stomach for feeding. She had multiple bouts of feeding intolerance and necrotizing
enterocolitis because of the lack of blood flow to her intestines. By three months old, she had
only been home a total of 20 days, and had 5 hospital readmissions. The doctors at Children’s
ultimately decided to perform her next open heart surgery early, at 3 and a half months old.
She recovered much faster than the doctors expected and was able to go home two weeks after
her surgery. At some point, she suffered a stroke, which caused the motor development in her
left arm to be delayed. She receives physical, occupational and speech therapy, and is making
great progress. She has been weaned off all medications except one, and no longer needs
supplemental oxygen. Mackenzie had her Fontana procedure June of last year. After this, she will have a lifetime of follow up appointments and monitoring. Many children like her end up needing liver or even heart transplants. For all that she has been through, Mackenzie is the happiest baby, always giving
everyone big smiles and lighting up the room with her personality.
We lived at the hospital basically for four months. We had family come in shifts to take care of our
son. The hospital staff were amazing. They took amazing care of Mackenzie but also asked about
us. They gave me access to a gym, provided sleep rooms when they were available and helped
us with every step of the process. I can’t give the staff at Children’s hospital enough credit and love.
They made what we were going through much better than it could have been. We also made
friends with another family that got there a few days before us. We became and still are close
friends. Unfortunately, their son Levi didn’t make it. We are so grateful for everyone that helped
us and continues to help support the hospital.
