{"id":8926,"date":"2021-07-14T11:25:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T01:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/?p=8926"},"modified":"2021-07-14T11:25:55","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T01:25:55","slug":"olivers-rch-journey-the-diary-of-a-heart-kid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/olivers-rch-journey-the-diary-of-a-heart-kid\/","title":{"rendered":"Oliver’s RCH journey: the diary of a heart kid"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 20-weeks pregnant, Jacinta attended her morphology scan to be told that something was wrong with her baby\u2019s heart. It was soon revealed that her unborn son had a complex congenital heart defect called truncus arteriosus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jacinta and her partner Darcy were completely shocked and devastated to receive the news as young, healthy first-time parents. From this day, they knew their lives would change forever and so they began educating and preparing themselves for the long and challenging journey ahead.<\/p>\n

Shortly after baby Oliver was born, the family were brought to the RCH by the Paediatric Infant Perinatal Emergency Retrieval (PIPER) service. Before long, the RCH\u2019s dedicated cardiac area \u2013 Koala \u2013 became their new home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOliver\u2019s condition in simple terms means he has trouble oxygenating his blood properly. He underwent his first open heart surgery at four-weeks-old. Recovery was hard, long and complicated at times, but we were so supported by the RCH and the incredible teams they have,\u201d said Oliver\u2019s mum, Jacinta.<\/p>\n

\u201cOliver was discharged at eight-weeks-old and was doing wonderfully! A lot of our care continued through the RCH \u2013 we had a team of 10 specialists who honestly became like family to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

During surgery, Oliver was given a conduit which helps his blood flow from his heart. This will need replacing for majority of his life, as surgery for congenital heart defects is not a cure.<\/p>\n

Two years on, it was time for Oliver to endure his second open heart surgery. He was displaying increased symptoms of fatigue, sweatiness, changing colour and swelling. He was in heart failure \u2013 which was expected to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur incredible surgeon Christian Brizard worked on Ollie for over 10 hours and helped make his heart so much stronger. Oliver spent 10 and a half hours on bypass, two days on life support and 10 days in hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOliver is now almost 2.5-months post his second open heart surgery and he is a completely new child. He has more energy, is more playful, has a real and true lust for life and is the healthiest he has ever been! Oliver has defied all odds placed against him, and we feel very blessed to have so many people who care about our boy dearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raising awareness and advocating for congenital heart disease (CHD) is now so important to Jacinta.<\/p>\n

\u201cCHD can affect just about anyone and knowing what to ask at your anatomy scan allows you to be as best educated as you can. We will always raise awareness and remember those who fought so hard to be here but no longer are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so thankful for the surgeons and the entire team at the RCH for their tireless work on making our son as happy and healthy as he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Oliver’s first open heart surgery.<\/div><\/div>
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Oliver’s second open heart surgery.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Oliver at the RCH.<\/div><\/div>
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Oliver at the RCH.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Oliver and his bravery certificate after his second open heart surgery. <\/div><\/div>
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Oliver four weeks post second open heart surgery.<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At 20-weeks pregnant, first-time parents Jacinta and Darcy attended a morphology scan to be told that something was wrong with their baby\u2019s heart. Click here to read brave Oliver’s story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":8931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8971,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8926"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8954,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926\/revisions\/8954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}