Two-year-old Boy Survives Open Heart Surgery

Two-year-old Nathan Rivera is a little warrior. At such a young age, he has survived open heart surgery and has beaten the odds.

“When I was pregnant with Nathan, prenatal tests showed he had a chance of being born with Down syndrome and spina bifida,” said his mother, Marisol Rivera. “I was so heartbroken, and I couldn’t stop crying. I needed to get a second opinion.”

Marisol came to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she underwent an amniocentesis, a prenatal test in which a small amount of amniotic fluid is removed from the sac surrounding the fetus, and then used to determine if specific genetic disorders may be present.

Weeks later, Marisol received the good news: little Nathan did not carry Down syndrome and spina bifida chromosomes.

“It took me a while to believe that he was okay,” said Marisol.

On July 30, 2012, little Nathan was born at Jackson Memorial. Just a few days later, he was diagnosed with tetralogy of fallot (TOF), a congenital defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart.  It occurs in about five out of every 10,000 babies, and affects boys and girls equally.

This condition normally involves four heart defects, which include a hole between the lower chambers of the heart, an obstruction from the heart to the lungs, the aorta lies over the whole in the lower chambers, and the muscle surrounding the lower right chamber becomes overly thickened.

In December 2012, at four month old, little Nathan successfully underwent open heart surgery at Holtz Children’s Hospital at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

Nathan is currently undergoing occupational, physical and speech therapy. Doctors say his prognosis is good, but he will need an additional heart surgery later in life.

“Nathan is a normal kid,” his mother says. “I’m happy to see he’s doing well.”