Breathe Easy
AN INNOVATIVE AIRWAY PROCEDURE HELPED JACOB BREATHE ON HIS OWN
B Y C H R I S T I N A O R L O V S K Y P H O T O S B Y J A S O N G R U B B
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to flow to the lungs. Although he was born at full term, at a healthy weight of 6 pounds, 10 ounces, Jacob was still whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit in the family’s hometown before his mother was even able to see him. Jacob remained in the NICU until, at just 6 days old, he had his first open heart surgery. While the surgery went well and the surgeon closed the newborn’s chest, they had to reopen it the next day to insert a pulmonary artery band and increase blood flow. Jacob’s chest remained open for a week to ensure the success of the repair. “It was the craziest experience to see my son’s heart beating,” Katie recalls. “I was trying to look at the amazing part of it, knowing that 10 years ago there would’ve been nothing they could do for him and I would have to say goodbye. Jacob’s heart was the size of a walnut. It was so hard to watch him go through it, but he’s very strong.”
atie Griffith was halfway through her fourth pregnancy when she heard news no expectant mother wants to hear: Her unborn son had a
congenital heart defect. The results of her 20-week ultrasound took her completely by surprise. “At the time, I didn’t know that one in 100 babies are born with heart defects. I didn’t realize how huge it really was,” she says. “It was difficult to look at his heart in the ultrasound. It was just an empty hole; nothing was complete and the valves were only partially there.” Katie’s son Jacob was born on Feb. 5, 2019, with an atrioventricular canal defect, a condition that occurs when there’s a hole between the heart’s chambers. The defect causes problems with the valves, allowing extra blood
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