Hello Everyone!

My name is Mallory I am a 28 year old Mother of 3 beautiful girls. When I was 18 I had multiple TIA's (Mini Strokes) which lead to doctors finding out I was born with a congenital heart defect called Atrial Septal Defect (ASD). People with an ASD have a hole between the upper heart chambers that increases the amount of blood going through the lungs. This defect was the main reason for my TIA's. I had heart surgery in 2017. In 2019 we started our little family, we were told that ASD was non-hereditary until, our second daughter Miss Natalie Mae was born in December of 2020.

When Natalie was born she was the GREATEST Christmas present we could have ever received and every day with her is a gift! She was 2 days old when we brought her home on Christmas Eve to meet her big sister JoJo. On the long drive home from St Petersburg, FL I sat in the back of the car with her as she turned blue and stopped breathing. I removed her from her car seat on the side of the road. It was like she was choking, I patted her on the back and held her close. Our beautiful baby girl started breathing and the color returned to that precious face. We were so terrified, this was extremely alarming to her Dad and I. We got her into her Peds doctor immediately. Everything had checked out for her and she was cleared to stay home. We had thought it was a fluke, that she was going to be perfectly fine. To our dismay, at her 2 week appointment we were told they wanted Natalie to be seen @ John Hopkins to check her heart. They believed to hear a heart murmur, raising concern. Dr. Susan Mims of Venice Peds did an AMAZING job finding it and getting this checked so early on in our little peanuts life! In the weeks to follow we went to see the Peds doctors that took exceptional care of me when I was diagnosed. What they discovered was devastating hear, Natalie has multiple holes in her heart and she was having focal seizures.

Within the upcoming months we had MANY doctors appointments. When she was 1 month old they had determined the 3 holes in her atria wall were 2.3 mm, 2mm and 1.6mm, and her skull was to small for her brain causing the focal seizures. Normally all babies are born with holes in their hearts that typically close within the first 2 years of life on earth. Natalie's first 2 years were filled with routine check ups to monitor these holes and see what they were going to do. When she went in for her 2 year check up they were not alarmed by the gradual growth of the the holes as it was just growing with her body and her focal seizures had come to a halt.

We have spent the last 2 years hoping and praying our Natalie would grow and thrive. In June of this year 3 months prior to her routine checkup her Dad (Andrew Brandt) and I started to notice she was very tired after daycare. Natalie had started to say she felt like she was under water while she was sleeping. She has been expressing to her sister while running around and playing that she needs to rest "Her heart didn't like that" while pointing to her chest. We were very concerned with this and felt she was not feeling like a healthy 3 year old does and is small for her age. We immediately called her heart doctors unfortunately they could not get her in any sooner even with the concerns and alarming things we expressed.

On September 13th of this year she had the appointment and Echo Cardiogram at Devos Children's Hospital that we had long been waiting for. We received the dreadful news that the top hole in her tiny heart is now measuring more than double in size and she has an enlarged right atrium. The doctors recommended that we proceed with the procedure to repair her heart as soon as possible. With this being said we made the decision to schedule the surgery. Miss Natalie is excited to get a Spidey Web device in her heart!

This procedure is critical for little miss Natalie to thrive and be a healthy, active and well developed child. It will require her to be admitted in the hospital for 2 days and she will need constant home care for weeks while she recovers. Our family is asking for your help and support as our insurance will not cover a large amount of the procedure. They say" it takes a Village" to raise children. We find ourselves in a position where we will need to lean on our Village. We know that helping financially may not be an option but sharing our story will help so much too. Thank you so much for reading our story and sharing it to reach as many people as we can. Please keep Natalie and our family in your thoughts and prayers. We will keep everyone updated here once the surgery is scheduled later this month. Please help us make sure our daughter can receive the best possible care and we can save her precious heart.