Conway mayor signs congenital heart defect awareness proclamation
Mallory Harris spent part of Tuesday morning exploring the offices of Conway City Hall, running from room to room, eager to watch as city officials worked on their computers.
Mallory loves computers, a trait her grandmother, Karen Fraser, attributes to Mallory’s computer-tech dad, Bryan Harris. Watching her skip between offices, interact with adults and giggle as her mom, Mandi, swings her around, an onlooker would never guess that 3-year-old Mallory has already had five open heart surgeries and has spent her short life in and out of Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
When Mallory was born in September of 2007, doctors heard a heart murmur and recommended she visit ACH for a pediatric echocardiogram. At six days old, Mallory was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. The next day, she underwent her first open heart surgery.
Four heart surgeries, a pacemaker and a feeding button later, Mallory is a survivor, a “miracle” to her family.
She was on hand Tuesday to watch as Mayor Tab Townsell signed a proclamation declaring Feb. 7-14 as Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week in the city of Conway.
“We’re trying to raise awareness,” Fraser said. “There are so many children with congenital heart defects.”
According to the American Heart Association, congenital heart defects “are structural problems with the heart present at birth. They result when a mishap occurs during heart development soon after conception and often before the mother is aware that she is pregnant. Defects range in severity from simple problems, such as ‘holes’ between chambers of the heart, to very severe malformations, such as complete absence of one or more chambers or valves.”
About 650,000 to 1.3 million Americans are living with a congenital heart defect. Almost 36,000 babies are born with a defect each year. Nearly twice as many children die from congenital heart disease in the United States each year as those that die from all forms of childhood cancers combined.
Mallory, who was diagnosed with Shone’s Complex, a congenital disease that consists of multiple heart defects, has battled her disease and won. According to Mandi, Mallory will always be a heart patient, but should not have to have a major surgical repair until she is a pre-teen.
After spending much of her toddler years in the hospital, Mallory was delayed in walking and talking, but has “made a lot of strides” recently, thanks, in part, to the therapy she receives at Pediatrics Plus.
Through the Community Connections program at Pediatrics Plus, Mallory will soon start cheerleading and hopes to play soccer in a few months. She’ll participate in the Arkansas Angels Pageant in March, a pageant tailored for special needs children.
Mallory’s family hopes the Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week will become an annual tradition in Conway.
Fraser said they are planning a possible balloon release next week to honor the memory of the “angels” that have not survived the disease.
Mallory and her family have grown very close to several other families in the area who are also suffering from congenital heart defects.
“You become a family with all the other families,” Fraser said.
For more information on congenital heart defects, contact Mandi at (501) 472-5183 or visit the American Heart Association at www.heart.org or Mended Little Hearts, a support program for families of children with heart disease, at www.mendedlittlehearts.org.
(Staff writer Stephanie Fischer can be reached by e-mail at stephanie.fischer@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit.)
Comments (1)
Add commentThis is such a good step! I
This is such a good step! I am glad someone was able to get this done! My 3 year old son has a congenital heart defect called bicuspid aortic valve and it's nice to know someone is trying to raise awareness! Good job!