Jaedin appeared on Portland's KATU television as part of the 2007 Make-a-Wish telethon. Here's a write-up we put together for KATU in preparation for the 12/6/07 broadcast with some background on Jaedin's heart condition and how he came to make a wish:
Just an hour after he was born in 1998, Jaedin stopped breathing and had to be rushed from the delivery room to the ICU. We were told that the left ventricle in his heart hadn’t fully developed, and that his condition, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), was 100% fatal without a complicated series of open-heart surgeries. Our lives during his first three years were dominated by a whirlwind of operations, recovery periods, follow-up visits, and medications, with the whole cycle repeating every few months. Jaedin kept us on our toes with a few complications during those first years, but he showed us he was a fighter and never complained, even when it meant taking medicine he didn’t like or carting his IV pump around with him everywhere he went.
After Jaedin’s last major surgery in 2001, his cardiologist at Doernbecher Childrens Hospital nominated him to be granted a wish through the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Jaedin was still very young at the time, and we wanted him to be able to choose his own wish, so we put the idea on hold. Jaedin is now eight years old and he is an active young man. He loves school, especially science and reading. He wants to be an author someday and goes through a ream of paper every month writing his own super-hero stories. He does get winded easily because of his relatively low blood oxygen levels – imagine living your life at Everest Base Camp – but most of the time he stays so busy you’d never know he has a heart condition. He still has occasional checkups, and the idea of a wish resurfaced during his last visit with his cardiologist.
His cardiologist sent in the nomination form, and after a few weeks, Jaedin got a call from the Make-a-Wish Foundation to set up an interview. We checked with him before the interview to see what his biggest wish would be. He told us he'd like to go to the Oregon Zoo. We asked him to dream just a little bit bigger (but took him to the zoo in the meantime, just in case...) He had just finished building and painting a model of the Titanic when two volunteer wish granters came to interview him. He was really into the Titanic at the time, having cleared his school library of every book on the subject. When they asked what he might want to wish for, he pulled out his new model to show them and said he wanted to go on a ship as big as the Titanic, but "one that doesn't sink." They said they'd look into it for him. A few weeks passed, and then one day he got a call to to let him know his wish would be granted in the form of a Caribbean cruise for the whole family!
We've never set foot on a cruise ship before, so it's sure to be an exciting new adventure for us all. We're certainly looking forward to the trip and want to extend our thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation and everyone who donates through the telethon to help kids affected by childhood illnesses. HLHS affects about 1,000 babies born each year in the U.S. Thanks to improvements in the surgical procedures and treatment plans, most of these babies will be able to live a relatively normal childhood. Because the surgical treatments are relatively new, however, the long-term outlook is a bit of an unknown void. We are hoping and praying that continued research and breakthroughs will allow Jaedin and other kids with HLHS to live a long, fulfilling life and experience all it has to offer. We’re grateful for the teams of surgeons, nurses, cardiologists, and others who dedicate their lives to helping kids like Jaedin, and to the Make-a-Wish Foundation for helping to make Jaedin’s dreams come true. And we’re especially grateful that, at least last time we checked, there are no icebergs in the Caribbean J.
