|| Printer-Friendly Format ||   E-mail to a Friend

Tommy's Battle With Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
Reported by JoAnne Purtan
Web Produced by Kelly Reynolds

	Tommy, with dad Mike, has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which means he was born with only half a heart. Video

Tommy Schomaker is not even two years old, but has survived three open heart surgeries and three months in the hospital. For Tommy's parents it's been a time of heartache and hope.

As a parent, it's hard to imagine watching your baby go through what Tommy has had to face, but it was his only chance for a future. His mom and dad invited Action News along their journey to give hope to other parents.

It is a heartbreaking separation for Colleen and Mike Schomaker and their nearly two-year-old boy.

"The biggest hardship, I think, is seeing him go or giving him up,"

Tommy has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, he was born with only half a heart. We first met Tommy and six of his little friends last February, all boys, all born within a few months of each other, all with the same rare heart defect. Their parents were faced the same decision, let their babies die or watch them go through three surgeries to give them a chance at growing up.

	Tommy gets wheeled into his third surgery.

Action News was there as Tommy faces the third and hopefully final one to repair his heart. University of Michigan heart surgeon Dr. Ed Bove is known around the world for performing the series of lifesaving operations.

"We can surgically rebuild the heart to create a fairly functional circulation, not by any means normal, but one that's fairly functional that leads to growth and development," Dr. Bove said.

We watched as a heart and lung machine takes over for Tommy. Then, Dr. Bove rewires his heart so the right side can do double duty and make up for the missing left side. Upstairs, mom and dad wait. Finally, after a tense three hours, an update.

"Sounds like everything is going well. They are rewarming, strengthening him up now."

Later, a crisis. Tommy's heart rate takes off and he is not responding to medicine. There's only one more drug left to try. It works. Later, his parents look back at those agonizing hours.

"Where did you guys find the emotional reserves?" Health Reporter JoAnne Purtan asked Colleen and Mike.

	Today, three months after surgery, Tommy is doing great.

"Well, definitely from, first and foremost, from our Christian faith. We call on that through this entire process. It's the only thing that's gotten us through," Colleen said.

They called on it over and over.

"He had all these tubes coming out of him, and he would hide himself in his blanket and sit there on his back and just watch the door. Every time the door would open, he would scream bloody murder," Mike recalled.

But children are resilient, and Action News caught up with Tommy 11 days after surgery. Five days after that, he got to go home.

"I mean, he's livelier than ever and he's doing great and we just, we feel extremely blessed," Colleen said.

Tommy is back playing with all his friends again. Doctors believe these kids have a great chance of making it into their 20's, and they hope well beyond that as medicine advances.

"You know, absolutely. I would do it 100 times over in order to get this result. It is absolutely a blessing and a miracle," said Mike.

It has been about three months since his surgery and he is doing just great today. He celebrates his second birthday next month, in early December.

For more information on congenital heart defects, visit the Congenital Heart Information Network website.

|| Printer-Friendly Format ||   E-mail to a Friend
|| More Health News ||   Discussion Groups