As a nurse practitioner for Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, Mary T. “Terri” Massey, APRN, has become an invaluable force caring for the youngest and sickest heart patients. Her journey within Norton Children’s tells a story of compassion, strength and purpose. Having been part of Norton Children’s since 1986,…
It’s a phone call pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Deborah J. Kozik, D.O., has received more than 100 times. One of her patients has been waiting months for a new heart. On this morning, a donor heart in another state has become available. There’s little time to waste. Dr. Kozik and the team are on a plane…
A pediatric cardiac surgeon is a doctor with specialized training to perform heart surgery on children. The majority of heart problems requiring surgery on children are congenital heart defects. A skilled pediatric cardiac surgeon is capable of repairing all types of complex heart defects on newborns, babies, young children and teens. Given the complexity of…
The transplant nurse clinician at Norton Children’s Hospital got the call on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. It was one that got her heart racing — in a good way. A heart was available for a young patient at Norton Children’s Hospital who had been waiting for nearly a year for a transplant. This news sent…
As doctors, nurses and staff lined the lobby of Norton Children’s Hospital to say goodbye, Thomas Norris had a big reason to smile. After almost a year of waiting and more than 100 days in the hospital, Thomas left Norton Children’s with a new heart. Thomas, a 9-year-old from Jeffersonville, Indiana, was born with dilated…
Norton Children’s is celebrating a milestone almost 40 years in the making. Doctors with Norton Children’s Heart Institute performed the hospital’s 100th pediatric heart transplant. The patient, a 9-year-old, is currently recovering. He had been on the transplant waiting list for almost a year. “It’s exciting to reach this milestone,” said Bahaaldin Alsoufi, M.D., chief…
At 18 weeks pregnant, Brittany Walden learned she was going to be a “heart mom.” Her baby’s growing heart showed some abnormalities. After months of Brittany meeting with specialists and more scans, Emery Walden was born in October 2020 with a heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) with pulmonary stenosis. HLHS is a…
For many children on the pediatric heart transplant waiting list, the wait can be a year or longer — as available organs are directed to the sickest children first. For about three-fourths of those kids, it is less than three months before they are matched with a donor and the surgery is completed. The heart…
Pediatric cardiologist Sarah J. Wilkens, M.D., MPH, has trained to care for the sickest children — heart failure and transplant patients. “Ultimately what motivates me are the patients and trying to support their families in these difficult situations,” Dr. Wilkens said. Equally important, she said, is seeing her patients as they grow up — then…
Deborah J. Kozik, D.O., didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up. Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she describes her family as blue-collar and her mother as someone who influenced her to swing for the fences, to aim high without regard to expected gender roles. She became a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon who specializes…
In Eli Alexander’s 23 months of life, he has overcome a congenital heart defect with the help of a heart transplant. His family has taken to comparing his strength and bravery to an elephant’s. It only made sense that he should help unveil the name of the Louisville Zoo’s baby elephant. In a naming contest…
A day of tragedy in Charles City, Iowa, has led to lasting friendship and love for two families connected through one heartbeat. After Lenny and Wendy Luft’s 15-year-old son was injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident, his condition worsened. As it became clear he wouldn’t survive, they decided to donate his organs. “It was a…