William was born a healthy baby boy on April 12th, 2009. On October 11th, he was admitted to the Litchfield Hospital, and later transferred to Children's Hospital with pneumonia. After 11 days, 5 of which spent in the PICU, he was discharged on October 21st. After a month of night-time oxygen and nebulizer treatments, William was seemingly healthy until a cold appeared to slow him down mid-December. During his two-month checkup at Children's on December 22nd, his doctor noticed some abnormalities in his oxygen levels; he decided to keep him overnight for observation. Upon hearing a pronounced sound in his heart beat, he ordered an echocardiogram the morning of December 23rd, during which they found a congenital heart defect. William was diagnosed with a "single ventricle, double inlet, L-transposition," abnormalities that will need to be corrected through a series of three surgeries. (This was all learned on his mama's 33rd birthday.) His first successful surgery on December 30th, 2009 was called the Damus-Kaye-Stansel, a version of the Norwood. It changed the anatomy of his heart from three chambers to two by removing the atrial septum, and added a shunt to alleviate some of the extra blood flow to his lungs. His second successful surgery on May 21st, 2010 was called the Glenn. It connected the superior vena cava to the pulmonary artery, and removed the previously added shunt. The third successful, and hopefully final, surgery on September 27th, 2012 was called the Fontan. It connected the inferior vena cava to the pulmonary artery through a piece of gortex; gortex is a manufactured material made from a cross between flexible plastic and mesh fabric, is the length of 3-5 inches, and the circumference of a garden hose. It is expected to maintain its connection throughout William's life. He loves his baby brother Parker, music (of course,) SuperHeroes, reading books, his dog Clyde, playing piano, and cuddling with his loved ones. He is a very charming boy with a growing vocabulary and steel-trap memory. He loves to learn new things each day and is currently on summer break before his 1st grade year at Dassel Elementary.