Adrian Vasquez

Matilda Vasquez was just a few weeks away from delivering her baby when she went in for a routine ultrasound. What the doctors discovered, would change her life forever. Her unborn son, Adrian, had a life-threatening congenital heart defect. The doctors said that Adrian had a large hole in the center of his heart. Matilda and her husband, Anthony, spent the next few weeks hoping and praying that their son would be able to survive once he was born.

When Adrian was born, his heart was in much worse condition that was initially thought. He was diagnosed with three major heart defects. The hole that doctors had detected weeks before was diagnosed as a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). He was also diagnosed with Double Outlet Right Ventricle, a rare congenital cardiac defect in which all of one great artery and at least half of the other great artery arise from the right ventricle, rather than one from the right ventricle and one from the left ventricle. He was also born with Pulmonary Stenosis, meaning his pulmonary valve was much smaller than it should be. This condition can severely restrict blood flow.

At just five days old, Adrian underwent open heart surgery. It would be the first of four major procedures performed in less than a year. During this surgery, Adrian’s chest was opened and a shunt was inserted into his heart to improve blood flow. At 5 months old he had another open heart surgery to correct the VSD. This surgery lasted between three and four hours. Adrian also suffered blood transfusion poisoning during the procedure and remained in critical condition for a month. Several times throughout the first few months, Adrian’s parents were told that he may not survive.

For the next couple of months, Adrian was in and out of the hospital. Later, after everything he was forced to endure, Adrian began looking sick and was rushed to the hospital where he had to undergo emergency open heart surgery. During this surgery, doctors corrected a back flowing of his tricuspid valve to the rest of his heart and body which had caused Adrian’s heart to grow almost the size of his entire chest. This surgery lasted about eight hours. In Adrian’s most recent surgery, doctors inserted a pacemaker.

Adrian will need more open heart surgeries throughout the rest of his life to replace an artificial valve in his heart as he grows, and surgeries to have the pacemaker batteries replaced. In fact, his next scheduled surgery will be performed in February or March of 2008. In addition, Adrian suffers from speech and other developmental delays.

Matilda Vasquez took Paxil during her pregnancy with Adrian because she was told it was safe. "I never believed that this could happen," she says. "Never assume that everything will be okay if you continue to take this medication while pregnant. There are safer choices."