Elijah's Open Heart Surgery

Elijah is a 16 year old boy who loves Jesus, his family and playing soccer. He is a very gifted athlete who spent countless hours practicing and perfecting his game up until a couple weeks ago when he started to have difficulty breathing, chest pain and blurry vision during soccer practice . Concerned, his mother, Milissa McGavin, took him to the Emergency room where he had 4 abnormal EKG's showing an Acute Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack), however all of his blood work ruled out this possibility. The ER doctors were perplexed and referred  Elijah to a cardiologist, where they discovered a heart murmur. Given the concerning symptoms and the results of the EKG the Doctor ordered an Echocardiogram. The Echocardiogram showed that Elijah has some sort of abnormality the doctor then ordered a  CT scan to confirm any suspicion. After reading the results of the CT Scan, the doctor returned and confirmed our fears. Elijah was diagnosed with an Anomalous Coronary Artery, a very serious malformation of the coronary artery that often goes unnoticed until adolescence or early adulthood. It is the second most common cause of sudden death in athletes such as Elijah. In Elijah's case, they need to perform Open Heart Surgery, where they will stop his heart and redirect that artery by cutting it and meshing it where it should go. The surgery has been scheduled for the first week of April. Elijah is on strict orders of restricted physical activity while he awaits his surgery. 

This has been a huge shock to the family; as anyone can imagine this is a parent's worst nightmare. Elijah's family could really use everyone's prayers during this stressful & frightening time. His parents will obviously need to take off work to be with Elijah during his surgery and the difficult road to recovery that is associated with Open Heart Surgery. With 3 other children and another little one due in less than a month this is the last thing their family could have prepared for emotionally or financially. Understandably, they could use any financial assistance anyone would be willing to provide. They will need money for lodging, food, and the gas (not to mention the hospital bills) they will need to travel back and forth to check on their other 3 children who will be staying with family during Elijah's surgery and following hospitalization.

    We thank you for taking the time to read Elijah's story.  We are grateful for any assistance you can offer; the family desperately needs prayers for strength and healing during this time, but they have faith that God will provide.