Hannah’s Open Heart Surgery Update

On December 22^nd my eight year old daughter Hannah (Sweet Pea) had a very successful open heart surgery, and she was released from the hospital on Christmas day. The surgery took about three and a half hours and Hannah was on a heart-lung bypass machine for twenty seven minutes. Her sternum was wired and she received three layers of stitches to close the incision. She had a chest tube (to drain the blood around her heart) and three IVs.

    I would like to thank everyone who prayed for Hannah, because God guided the surgeon’s hands and blessed Hannah with a proficient procedure. Her pain was well managed and she is recovering very well. I have nothing but good things to say about the hospital, the surgeon and the nursing staff at Riley Hospital for children (Indianapolis). I was truly impressed with the medical professionalism and the compassionate care that they provided. Hannah and I are now on a mission to write a book about her open heart surgery experience. I would also like to thank everyone who cared enough to help us with their financial gifts. Because of your generosity I have been about to get a handle on my bills and was able to provide Hannah with some Christmas gifts.

    Now my biggest priority is to get a car (or any automobile) so that I am not forced to get Hannah out in the winter weather. Because we do not have a car we have to walk everywhere that we need to go (the grocery store, doctor’s appointments, etc.). Plus, Hannah has asthma so walking with her in the cold winter conditions is not very safe or healthy. The transmission wen out of my car well over a year ago and we have been walking ever since, so we are desperately trying to raise enough money to buy an automobile.

    Please help us by sharing our Go-Fund-Me link: https://www.gofundme.com/Hannahspain

Learn more about Hannah:

https://www.facebook.com/Sweet-Peas-Care-Page-719081884935170/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIpp7Tncz3Vmq8nX9a86s3A

Hannah's open heart surgery is in two days. We leave tomorrow for the preoperative visit, we will spend the night in Indianapolis and her surgery will be on December 22nd.

Even though Hannah (my Sweet Pea) remains calm and strong, this is a very dark hour for my family. I feel like Abraham must of felt like when God told him to take his son to the mountain and sacrifice him. I know that this surgery must be done to protect Hannah's life. However it is extremely difficult for me to deliver her to a life threatening situation.

I desperately plead with everyone who reads this (no matter your religious belief) to pray for my daughter and my family. Please pray that God works through the surgeons hands, helping him repair Hannah's heart, and that God protects Hannah's life and blesses our family with peace and faith.

We would like to thank everyone for your help and prayers, and would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Hannah's Go Fund Me Page: https://www.gofundme.com/Hannahspain

Hannah’s Facebook Care Page https://www.facebook.com/Sweet-Peas-Care-Page-719081884935170/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIpp7Tncz3Vmq8nX9a86s3A

An Update On Hannah's Open Heart Surgery

I wanted to update everyone about Hannah’s open heart surgery. We were forced to reschedule her procedure because Hannah was required to have some dental work completed before she could be cleared to have her surgery. Now that we have accomplished the dental work (bother extractions and fillings) we were able to reschedule her open heart surgery for December 22^nd.

The surgery itself will take a few (two to four) hours. Then Hannah will be in the Intensive Care Unit for one to two days, and her total hospital stay will be four to five days. Hannah will spend most of her Christmas break at the hospital and recovering at home. She will be able to return to school within two to four weeks after her surgery, but she will have activity restrictions including not being able to lift more than five pounds for six to eight months after her surgery. Her complete recovery could take up to one full year for her to be 100% back to her normal self.

Thank you (so much) to everyone; for your generous donations, your emotional support, and most of all your prayers.

Please continue to share Hannah’s links:

Hannah’s Go Fund Me page: https://www.gofundme.com/Hannahspain

Hannah’s blog: http://www.hannahsopenheartsurgery.blogspot.com/

Hannah’s Facebook Care Page: https://www.facebook.com/Sweet-Peas-Care-Page-719081884935170/

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIpp7Tncz3Vmq8nX9a86s3A

Hannah Making A Cake Part 1 of 3

Hannah At The Park At Night Having Fun

Hannah Wants To Meet Taylor Swift Before Her Open Heart Surgery

Here are a couple videos of Hannah having fun signing Taylor Swift. Hannah’s Christmas wish is to meet Taylor Swift, if not face-to-face then to have a video chat with her on Skype.

https://youtu.be/23DUGMTpoxs

Hannah’s Open Heart Surgery

Season’s Greetings,

Our eight year old daughter Hannah (Sweet Pea) was recently diagnosed with Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) a congenital heart defect. It turns out that the hole in Hannah’s heart is too large for her to be a candidate for the non-surgical catheter-based procedure and so she must have open heart surgery to repair a whole in her heart. Hannah is a beautiful little girl (both inside and out). She is a straight-A student, and she is one of the most caring and selfless children in the world. She loves to sing, dance, and practice gymnastics. She enjoys reading and watching (mostly Barbie and princesses themed) movies, and is a HUGE fan of Taylor Swift. Hannah has a younger sister, two older brothers and a mother and father who all love her very much. The thought of our precious little girl having to have open heart surgery is terrifying for us. This invasive surgery requires that the cardiovascular surgeon make an incision into Hannah's chest, cuts through all or part of her sternum (chest bone) and open her chest cavity to expose her heart. Once her heart is visible, Hannah will be connected to a heart-lung bypass machine (thus stopping her heart), so that the surgeon can operate.

As our family prepares for Hannah’s open heart surgery we are also experiencing an extreme financial hardship and struggle through life without a vehicle. The transmission went out in our can over a year ago and we’ve been without an automobile every sense. This might not sound like a big deal to most people. However without any source of public transportation it not only makes maintaining employment a challenge, but it also makes day to day life very difficult as well. We are forced to walk with the children everywhere that we need to go (the grocery store, doctor’s appointments, etc.). Plus, as the cold weather sets in it triggers Hannah’s asthma condition and while recovering from open heart surgery this makes her health and safety is a real concern.

We are reaching out to the public for help, because we simply do not know where else to turn. We’ve contacted every organization, foundation and church that we could find. However there does not seem to be any funding for our particular situation. We’ve even tried a Go-Fund-Me page but unfortunately our network of friend and family is very small so this too was unsuccessful.    Hannah’s Christmas wish is to meet or talk to Taylor Swift. This is a very sad and scary time in Hannah’s life (facing open heart surgery) and as expected she if feeling somewhat overwhelmed with everything. So her family is trying desperately to reach out to Taylor Swift and ask her to have a video Skype call with Hannah or to make Hannah a personalized video dedicating one of her songs to Hannah. This would help Hannah’s moral so much and would help give her strength that she need to make it through this tough time in her life and empower her to make a speedy recovery.

Our family also wants to raise awareness to congenital heart defects, in particular Atrial Septal Defect. Hannah was originally diagnosed with having a small heart murmur. We were told repeatedly that it was nothing to be concerned about and that it would most likely heal itself. This was not the case, the hole is Hannah’s heart is quite large and if it is not repaired while she is young it will cause permanent and irreversible heart damage. Hannah’s new pediatrician heard her heart murmur and ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound came back identifying Hannah’s Atrial Septal Defect. So we are encouraging all parents who have children with heart murmurs to get an ultrasound to make sure that the murmur is not sign of something more serious.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my daughter’s upcoming open heart surgery and our family’s situation. To learn more about Hannah and her family please visit the following links:

Hannah’s blog http://www.hannahsopenheartsurgery.blogspot.com/

Hannah’s Go Fund Me page: https://www.gofundme.com/hannahs-open-heart-surgery

Hannah’s Facebook Care Page https://www.facebook.com/Sweet-Peas-Care-Page-719081884935170/

Sincerely,

Larry Spain