It was good to see him. He was not here yesterday. He had the opportunity to speak at a hospital in Philadelphia about his research. He describes this hospital as "ground zero" in America for treatment of kids with single ventricles.
Many of you probably don't know about how Jacob's heart is designed. The fancy terms are these: Double Inlet Single Ventricle, Pulmonary Atresia with Dextrocardia. That's a complicated way to say that he only has half of a heart compared to most of the rest of us. The left side of his heart pumps to his body just like our hearts. However, we are so thankful that God gave Dr. Fontan the courage and determination and creativity to believe that kids born with single ventricles can live great lives! In the 1960s, Dr. Fontan engineered a way for surgical redesign to allow blood to flow to the lungs to receive oxygen- even without having the right side of the heart. For Jacob this was accomplished through his first three surgeries. The first two allowed him to grow a bit first. His third surgery was the open heart that created the pathway for blood to the lungs. His blood now flows to his lungs but without pumping action of a right ventricle.
In April 2011, we learned about Dr. Rodefeld's research through a project Jacob was doing for an engineering class. Dr. Rodefeld's current research offers revolutionary ideas about how to surgically approach kids with single ventricles. He and his team of engineers are designing a permanent pump that will in effect simulate the half of the heart that single ventricle kids (and adults) are missing. In addition to being a new surgical approach, these ideas would allow less invasive surgeries AND the pumping action would diminish other complications that can occur later in life.
In September 2011 Dr. Rodefeld visited Dr. Fontan in France for a series of scholarly interviews. Dr. Fontan is excited about Dr. Rodefeld's current ideas. Dr. Rodefeld also hand delivered a note from our family to Dr. Fontan. We included a photo of the other two boys in Jacob's high school who have Fontan circulations and notes from their moms.
In early April 2012, Dr. Rodefeld will share his research at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. It is another premier hospital that is well known for treatment of kids with single ventricles. He went to Great Ormond Street Hospital last spring and has been invited back to share how his research has developed through this year.
Through learning about Dr. Rodefeld's research, Jacob became very interested in pursuing biomedical engineering in college. Because of this interest and also because we have high hopes that this research could revolutionize treatment of people with single ventricles, if you hang around with us very long, you will hear more about Dr. Rodefeld!
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| Jacob & Brett in 2011, Learning about Dr. Rodefeld's research |
That's totally amazing! Praise God that he created some people to have the minds of engineers!
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