Violet has a fiery personality. She is very spirited and adventurous. 
SheÕs very strong willed. That personality as suited her very well 
thus far in life, you know, she has been through a lot, gotten through 
many obstacles. Some very scary near death experiences. But she has 
come out with a fighting spirit. 

She can be a bit of a handful. She definitely has a zest for life. I 
know she doesnÕt know what all she went through but it makes me think 
at some level she does know. 

When Violet was born she was not getting enough blood out of her heart 
into her lungs for oxygenation. So at 10 days old she had her first 
open heart surgery. It was coming time for her next heart surgery, it 
was going to be a full repair. We got admitted to CHKD and it was 
decided that we should be transferred up to UVA because they would be 
more able to handle any kind of complication that she might have. 

She did have some complications and we did need to be up at UVA and 
that ended up being a blessing in disguise. 

Transferring to a new hospital was very, very scary. Nobody at UVA 
knew us. Seeing Jenn and Violet leave in that ambulance to go up to 
UVA was probably the next to hardest thing IÕve ever done. 

When we arrived into the PICU it was just like a welcome wagon of open 
arms. Violet became the first BIVAD patient at UVA. But we had full 
confidence in Dr. Roeser knowing he had done it before. 

Yeah, the team for Violet is basically an Army. CHKD and us kind of 
reached out to each other, um they were in need of a little more 
specialized care. We are the first program in Virginia to do 
successful Berlin Hearts. We currently have a 100% survival for 
those.

You know, at the time of the original operation okay, when we did the 
repair it was just a matter of her heart function was just not 
adequate. ThatÕs when the wheels start spinning as far as wanting to 
list for heart transplant. 

I think Violet was probably at UVA for about a month. It was an 
incredibly fast stay. Her transplant happened very quickly. She was 
only on the list for 8 day. 

Violet represents what our program is capable of. We push the limits 
on what we can do and what we thought we could do. 

We feel very confident in the transplant team at UVA. If we ever have 
any questions or problem that might arise we always feel confident in 
calling them 24/7.
Medically she started out incredibly complicated and incredibly time 
and energy consuming. She has become an easy child to care for. Her 
family is wonderful and doing their part and thats all one can ask. 
And they are wonderful partners in helping to take care of this child. 

What might have been unthinkable 30 years ago, is normal and that is 
kids that have heart transplants have normal lives. 

The level of care that we received at UVA was fantastic. The way the 
team and all the cardiologists and the nurses and especially the PICU 
team, the way they just rallied around us; I feel like they are part 
of our family now.