Miracle Boy has a miracle surgery
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!
Posted on 11/14/2009 12:12:12 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
A smiling Stellan McKinney was reunited with his family Friday night, completely free of the potentially fatal heart ailment that made him an internet sensation even before he was born.
Stellan had surgery in Boston just four days ago -- a procedure called ablation to fix his heart rhythm problem. He and his mother, Jennifer McKinney, flew home to Minneapolis on Friday.
"God helped the doctors fix Stellan," McKinney said. "He doesn't have SVT anymore. I know."
SVT, or Supraventricular Tachycardia, made Stellan's heart beat three times as fast as it should. The condition affected Stellan since before he was born, forcing him into the hospital for several stints and forcing him to take medicine and be monitored by machines.
Even Stellan's ablation procedure didn't look very promising anymore
"His heart had stopped, Israel McKinney, Stellans' dad, said."His blood pressure had gone really low. After that, the surgeon's prognosis had gone down to like 10 percent, 12 percent successful, but here he is."
Tests Friday confirmed the surgery was a complete success. Doctors were able to destroy the part of the heart that was giving Stellan trouble and spare the rest.
"As a dad (I'm) thrilled, grateful, thankful," McKinney said. "If you're a parent, I think you kind of know how I feel. If you're not, when you have kids, you'll understand."
Jennifer McKinney has written all about Stellan's life and condition on her blog, McKMama.com , starting from when she was still pregnant and it looked like Stellan wouldn't even be born alive. Blog readers from literally all over the world posted pictures of Stellan's name, tangible symbols of their prayers and good wishes. In the McKinney family's minds and hearts, it worked.
"It's definitely God's work," McKinney said. "He worked in the doctor's hearts and the people who prayed for him's (sic) hearts. In a lot of ways, life is a miracle. Every day is a miracle. I'm not one to toss that word around, but if this isn't a miracle, I don't know what is. We're just completely thrilled. Still I think in a little bit of shock."
The family's life has changed. No more monitor. No more medicine, and a less than one percent chance the SVT will come back.
"It feels like a huge weight that I didn't really even realize was on my chest was just lifted," McKinney said. "You learn to organize your whole life and your day and your thinking around a child with special needs who takes medicine every six hours. It just feels so free."
PING!
Logan's Prayer Warriors!!! Hi! Ping here, too!
Prayers of thanksgiving! May God continue to bless them.
I will continue to keep him in my prayers.
This was in Boston - so was this done at Boston Children’s Hospital?
Who was the Surgeon, is he mentioned? (I ask because I know of Dr. Pablo DelNido there; he has worked on a local boy in the Moscow, ID. area. We are acquainted with the boy’s family because my daughter has a congenital heart defect also, so stories like this get my attention over this past year +.
A.A.C.
BTTT
Well, FRiend, I have no hard answers for you. I did some archive searching after your post to me. All I can find in previous news stories is “a Boston hospital” and “a hospital in Boston”
In the mother’s blog, in a quick search, a “Dr. ‘A’ is mentioned several times....
For some reason, some of the more intimate details are being left out.
Sorry, that’s the best that I can do....
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