Let me say first off, Thank You, to any and all that have stopped by this funding request. My son Alex, now 27 years old has the opportunity to get a new tricuspid valve for his heart. With the help of his wonderful ACHD Cardiologist, Alex has been accepted for a surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN. His back story from birth has been scary.  Alex was born with what is called CHD, congenital heart defects. He had quite a few – Atrial Septal Defect, Ventricular Septal Defect, Tetralogy of Fallot, Double Outlet Right Ventricle and Absent Inferior Vena Cava. In a nut shell,  A Hypoplastic Heart. At birth it was a scary surprise that he needed to be airlifted from our town over to Seattle’s Children’s Hospital. All they could tell us right after birth was that something was wrong with his heart. Ultimately the next day we were told everything. He stayed in the hospital for 3 days and sent home. Everything was going fine until one day when he was about 3 months old he went into what is call a Tet spell. He closed off his oxygen flow and this caused him to have very low blood saturation levels and an extremely high heart rate. Again, he was airlifted to Seattle. This time the Dr’s had to keep him in a medically induced state of sleep as he kept going into this type of spell for a few days. After being released they told us to try and not let him cry, they scheduled Alex for his first surgery. The Blalock-Taussig shunt (closed heart surgery), this allowed him to grow. At the age of 3 ½ he underwent his first open heart procedure. This was to complete a procedure called the Fontan. This was to divert blood to his pulmonary arteries. During the same procedure the put in an artificial inferior vena cava, this is what carries deoxygenated blood from the lower extremities to the heart. He was intubated for almost a week. He finally was able to maintain his oxygen levels and went home after approximately 2 week stay. All went well until….  Age 5, he woke up crying, he couldn’t talk or move, he had had a stroke. Medics took him to the local hospital but ended up back over at Children’s. After about a week he tried to say “mom”. I just broke down in tears, I hadn’t heard his voice in so many days and honestly wasn’t sure if I would hear his voice again. He started therapy at that point.  Being the strong minded person he had already become, the hospital let him go home with the requirements of speech, occupational and physical therapies. Alex is a fighter always has been. He still does not have full function of his right arm and he walks with a gait and still has difficulty with word recognition, from the stroke.   Age 9, it was time to have a revision of the Fontan and during the surgery they placed a pacemaker in his abdomen. His heart rate was falling while he was sleeping and the doctors didn’t like that. He has had the pacer box replaced 5 times to date (last replacement was Jan 2017). The pacemaker ultimately is doing most of the work now.  Age 18, a surprising milestone considering that a lot of the babies born with Alex’s defects at that time, didn’t make it to the age of 13. I had moved to Phoenix that year and what a surprise when I get a call saying they want to do a Transplant study. I fly up and after, 8 clinic visits in 2 days, Alex decides he does not want the transplant. I blame the Surgeon who spoke with Alex. He gave him the same time frames of survival with or without. Alex chose to move on and just live his life.  Age 19, Alex moves to Phoenix. I took him to see an Adult Cardiologist thinking he could be Alex’s new Dr., turns out that was not possible. He was not equipped with the knowledge that was needed to take care of him. He referred Alex to a new doctor affiliated with Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Low and behold, Alex’s pacemaker was almost dead and his oxygen saturation levels were in the upper 60’s, normal being 99-100. Back into surgery he went. Another revised Fontan and coiling off collateral vessels that were growing in his lungs causing Alex to cough up large amounts of blood.  Age 23, Alex was diagnosed with Cirrhosis, caused by his heart. The reason that he now needs this surgery. I guess the lamen description would be that every time his heart beats it is damaging his liver. The new mechanical valve would not only relieve the on going damage to the liver but also stop the fast deterioration of his heart.  Alex is a fighter always has been. He will be until the time comes to take his last breath. I pray that it will be many years down the road.  He needs to be in Rochester MN on May 31st, 2018 for pre-op appointments and surgery itself is scheduled for June 4th, 2018 Please help with anything you can. The funds will be used to help supplement my income while I am with Alex and as I do not have benefits were I work. It will also be for roundtrip airfare for us both, lodging for myself and Alex when he gets out of the hospital and food. We have not been given a timeframe for how long Alex will be in the hospital. They are also saying that he will need to stay in town for a full week after the discharge date for a follow up with the surgeon. Again, a huge Thank You to all that help.