Elliott (Leo) Beau Lovell Medical Bills

At 13 weeks pregnant, Kevin and Kristine were given the devastating news that there newest addition, Elliott (Leo) Beau Lovell had a serious heart condition called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). HLHS is a severe heart defect in which the left side of the heart is underdeveloped and causes the right side of his heart to pump blood to both lungs and the rest of his body, reducing blood flow to his organs.  They were given a couple of options but both immediately knew they had to give there little guy a fighting chance.

 Elliott came into the world screaming on April 8th and required medical intervention immediately after birth.  He received a heart catheter with a stint put in that created a small hole in the left side of his heart that alleviated the pooling of blood caused from a leaky mitral valve.  Elliott had his first open heart surgery (Norwood procedure) at just 4 days old.  A shunt was created to connect the aorta to the main pulmonary artery to provide blood flow. 

A few months after birth, Elliott will have his second open heart surgery, the Glenn procedure in which a bigger shunt will replace the existing shunt as Elliott gets older. 

The third surgery, the Fontan procedure will take place sometime around Elliott’s third birthday. The three procedures will help to convert Elliott’s heart from a two-chamber system, into a one chamber system culminating with the Fontan procedure.  Even with all the surgeries, a heart transplant is still a possibility and may occur at some point in Elliott’s life.