Gabriel Ryan Jackson HLHS journey

What Is Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS)?

 Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a rare birth defect of a baby's heart. The left side of the heart doesn't grow as it should, making it smaller and weaker than normal

 The left side of the heart is supposed to pump blood out to the body. But a baby's heart with HLHS can't do the job. This makes a baby very sick. Without medicines and a series of three surgeries to rebuild the heart, babies with HLHS won't survive.

 The left side of the heart can't be fixed, so the goal of the surgeries is to rebuild parts of the heart and "redirect" the way blood flows to and from the rest of the body. 

I’ve created this page for my Son’s Heart Journey. Gabriel Ryan Jackson was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome(HLHS) at 20 week anatomy scan. To summarize this, at some point in the pregnancy the left chamber of his heart stopped growing and once he is born it will not be able to function on its own. In order for Gabriel to survive, he will need 3 open heart surgeries. The first, within a week of being born. The Second, when he is 3-6 months old and third, when he is 2-3 years old.

Gabriel had his first surgery (Norwood Sano) last March 4, 2021. He is currently 4 month old and he is about to out grow his shunt and need the second surgery(glen) in which they will remove the shunt and connect his arteries to his own. His glen surgery is scheduled on July 27,2021.

Gabriel is g-tube fed and been going through a lot of therapy (occupational, speech, physical )

Unforeseen living expenses, meals, gas back and forth to the hospital, are just a few of the unexpected costs. We are blessed to have an amazing family , but as you can imagine it’s still going to be a journey that not many people will understand.

Many of you have asked me how you can get involved and if you can give financially so we decided to start this GoFundMe.

Anything helps!

Thanks everyone! Continue to pray for Gabriel and complete healing. 

GabrielHeart❤️