Our sweet baby Joel was born in Provo, Utah, where he spent 5 days in the NICU because of some breathing complications (it was assumed that he had swallowed blood from my placenta rupturing or from meconium).  He was sent home on oxygen and a heart and lung monitor.  When Joel was only 10 days old, we found out that his problems were entirely different than we had thought.  That morning, his heart and lung monitor kept going off.  I knew that something was wrong, and scheduled an appointment immediately.  At his appointment, his oxygen levels were way off (mostly staying in the 70s... not normal!).  His lips started turning blue.  He was admitted to American Fork Hospital for further testing.  A few hours later we received a call letting us know that there was something wrong with Joel's heart and that he need to be life-flighted right away to Primary Children's Hospital for emergency heart surgery.  This was the worst news we had ever received.

I flew with Joel to the hospital and was so afraid, but was trying to remain calm and praying for Heavenly Father's help.  When we got to the hospital, they informed me that Joel had a 5% chance of death.  Right after that, I couldn't help but bawl my eyes out.  Thinking about it now makes me emotional.  No parent wants to hear that there's a chance that their baby could die.

While waiting for surgery, I found out exactly what was wrong with Joel's heart.  He was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect called TAPVR (Total Anamalous Pulmonary Venous Return).  Basically he was slowly losing oxygen because instead of going back to his heart, it was going into his liver.  Thankfully he had a hole in his heart that was making the oxygen go through more easily, and I was told that it saved his life.  The doctors also told me if I hadn't brought him in when I did, that he probably would have died the next day.

It was eventually time for surgery.  My husband Devin had to drop our other son Isaac off with family, and came as soon as he could.  He wasn't there before Joel went into the operating room.  It was just me, and I remember giving Joel a kiss on the cheek and telling him how much I love him before they wheeled him away, never knowing if I would ever see him again, but thankfully we would!  The surgery was a 4 hour procedure, and we were so happy it was a success!  We will be forever grateful for the surgeons that saved Joel's life.

There were some complications during surgery that caused Joel to have a heart block, and he was put on a tempory pacemaker, and the next week would have a permanent pacemaker.  He was in the hospital for about 3 weeks, and then we finally got to take him home.  On oxygen and a feeding tube.  He was on oxygen for about a month, and had a feeding tube for about 5 months causing feeding issues to this day.

Although we no longer live in Utah, Joel goes to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis every 6 months for his pacemaker check, and also has his yearly heart check-ups here (he's only had one so far since living in Minnesota).  We are grateful to Children's for their help, and know that we can rely on them if Joel were ever to have any future heart problems.  The money this race raises helps further research into cures and preventative measures for others like Joel.  Please donate if you can.