Hello, 

My name is Maddox Harrison Fitzgerald, I was born July 16, 2011 to Jason and Chrissy Fitzgerald. I was the first-born boy of three brothers. I live in Springdale, Ark. and I am in kindergarten at Willis Shaw Elementary. 

I was born at 38 weeks’ gestation. On the day my mom and dad left the hospital, they were thinking they had a completely healthy baby boy that weighed 6 lbs. and 14 oz.

My parents took me to my first checkup at the pediatrician’s office when I was 4 days old. The pediatrician told my parents I had a heart murmur and a sacral dimple on my lower back. My parents were very sad. They had left the hospital with a healthy baby and then they were told their newborn son had a heart defect and possibly spina bifida. The doctor referred us to the Children’s Hospital in Little Rock for more testing. 

The Neurologist said my sacral dimple would not change my way of life. In fact, it turned out to be a tethered spine that would detach itself as I grew. 

We then met with a cardiologist, whose tests concluded that I had a hole in my heart in the atrial valve. The heart team at Children’s Hospital told my parents they would monitor this small defect, and there was a chance it would close on its own.

This condition is known as an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) defect. It is a hole in the wall that separates the top two chambers of the heart. This defect is in the septum between the heart’s two upper chambers. The septum is a wall that separates the heart’s left and right sides.

With an ASD defect, blood can travel across the hole from the left upper heart chamber to the right upper chamber and out into the lung arteries. If the ASD is large, the extra blood pumped into the lung arteries can make the heart and lungs work harder. This can gradually cause preeminent damage the lung arteries.

My mom was born in 1984 with the same heart condition. She too had a pin-sized hole in her heart in the atrial valve. My grandmother was told it would close on its own, but it grew too large. When my mom was 9 she had open-heart surgery to repair her heart.

After monitoring my heart for almost 4 years, my cardiologist said the hole grew too big and it would not close on its own. My parents were so sad. They worried that we would not beat the heart disease. They ultimately decided on me having the surgery.

On January 6, 2016, I had open-heart surgery at the Children’s Hospital. I was very brave. I told my parents I wasn’t scared. I know this was harder on my family than it was on me.

It took 10 days for me to recover. I started missing my brothers and my friends at my preschool by the fourth day. My nurses and cardiology team took very good care of me. They knew how much I loved superman and drew a big superman sign on my door.

I am now 5 years old and I am healthy and happy! I still love superman and baseball, riding my 4-wheeler, going fishing, swimming and playing with my brothers. I say my prayers every night, while pestering my brothers.