Mason Gregory Garka

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Hello all, Kelsey and I spent the morning at Children's Hopsital in Seattle today, what a place! They sure do a good job of trying to make the kids feel comfortable...part of me didn't even feel like I was at a hospital. We met with a Cardiologist, Dr. Vernon, and a Paranaetologist, Dr. Holmgren (yes, Mike Holmgren's daughter). Both of them were very nice and extremely informational. Dr. Vernon did confirm that Mason has HLHS and is a candidate for the Fontan Operations, which are the three stage surgeries he will have to go through to get his heart working as normal as possible. Kelsey and I have been talking about where we would want to do the surgeries in case we weren't comfortable with Seattle Children's. We knew going in that Children's in Seattle is one of the premeir hospitals in the country, but weren't sure how they were compared to other hospital's like University of Michigan with this particular heart disease. I'm glad to say that w...

Friends, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for the outpouring of prayers and words of support that we have been receiving from all of you. It means so much to us that each one of you would take the time to think about us and our son and include us in your thoughts and prayers. Without the support of friends and family like you all, I don't know how a couple could make it through such a nightmare. Thank you again, I pray many blessings for each of you for your relentless support. Well, as you can see by the title we've decided to officially give him a name. Since we'll be sending updates on his health we figured a name is a lot easier than calling him our "unborn son." Kelsey and I finally got some good news today from the doctor. The three chromosomes tested came back normal but we'll have to wait until the end of next week for the results on the other 23. However, the three that were test were the ones most likely to be abnormal with this heart a...

Friends, It is hard to reach out to everybody and let them know that our unborn son has been diagnosed with a heart defect which is obviously putting Kelsey and me through some very hard times. I'm hoping this reaches all of you so I can keep you updated. Our son has been diagnosed with what's called Endocardial Fibro-Elastosis, which in our language means one of the chambers in his heart isn's able to pump blood properly. Because of this Kelsey had to undergo a couple tests for abnormal chromosomes in which we get the results back on Monday. If our son has abnormal chromosomes this means the likelyhood of him surviving are very slim, whether that occrurs before or after birth we don't know. However, if they are normal his heart defect will turn into what's called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrom or HLHS. 20 years ago a child could not survive with HLHS but now there are surgeries that can be done to increase the chance of survival. After he is born he would have ...