Roddy D. McDowell, M.D., and Delwyn E. McOmber, M.D., are making their Pediatric HeartCare Partners practice a part of Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine. In addition to adding two skilled pediatric cardiologists to the Norton Children’s heart team, Pediatric HeartCare Partners will add five Southern Indiana locations and three…
Heart failure is a condition that can affect people of all ages. In heart failure, the heart doesn’t pump as efficiently as it should. What causes heart failure in children? What is heart failure? In heart failure, the heart hasn’t stopped working; it’s just not working as well as it should. The heart is unable…
Avery Conover says she wants to drag race someday, just like her father, Ricky Conover. According to her mother, Kayla Conover, Avery is very independent and doesn’t give up. Kayla says that fighting spirit is how Avery has weathered surgeries and care of a single ventricle congenital heart defect. Kayla was surprised at her 20-week…
Parents Lena and Sixtus Iwu say that looking at their 5-month-old daughter Eleanor, you wouldn’t know what she’s been through with a congenital heart condition. The growing, active child born in December has a rare form of long QT syndrome. Her parents and physicians are amazed by how Eleanor continually has defied the odds against…
The Jackson family discovered the first surprise of their second pregnancy at their scheduled 14-week appointment: They were having twin boys. A few days before Christmas 2017, the family went for the 20-week anatomy scan, which showed the first sign that there might be a heart issue with “baby B,” their son, Walker. Already reeling…
For Lauren Fitzmaurice of Owensboro, Kentucky, after 30 weeks of pregnancy, her due date was starting to seem like it was within reach. Pregnant with her second son, Miles, she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, prompting another ultrasound — all pretty normal stuff. But Lauren’s local OB/GYN noticed something not normal, an anomaly that needed…
Victoria A. Statler, M.D., works hard to educate children undergoing transplants on ways to avoid potentially dangerous infections. She also treats them when they do get sick. Children receiving transplanted organs or bone marrow take medicines to help their bodies accept the transplant. The drugs work by suppressing the immune system, so transplant recipients are…
Alyssa Claycomb considers her first two children “healthy as horses.” So during her pregnancy with her youngest child, Cayden Horton, the thought of congenital heart disease never entered her mind, let alone a very rare and usually fatal complex heart abnormality. The anatomy scan during her 22-week OB/GYN visit would change everything. Anatomy ultrasound leads…
People like you helped raise tens of thousands of dollars to support kids at Norton Children’s Hospital by sending stuffed animals through SendAFriend — an online store that ships fluffy friends with personalized messages. This Valentine’s Day, you can purchase a SendAFriend package to be delivered to a patient at Norton Children’s Hospital under an…
Undetected congenital heart defects (CHD) are rare, but some babies can grow into adolescence or early adulthood before noticing any symptoms. Congenital heart defects affect nearly 1 out of every 100 babies born in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About a quarter of those need surgery before their…
Doctors have a new way to detect heart and other conditions in Western Kentucky babies even before they’re born. Norton Children’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine, on the campus of Med Center Health, Bowling Green, Kentucky, recently installed state-of-the-art diagnostic and ultrasound equipment. The equipment is designed to identify complex anomalies in unborn babies through early detection so…
When Ashley Eastman, R.N., has an appointment to monitor her adult congenital heart disease (ACHD), she simply leaves her desk, walks to the front desk, checks in, and waits to be called. As a nurse clinician for Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, she understands the journey of a child…