A HEART FOR REILLY —Winning the battle one obstacle at a time.
A Story of Hope
^Reilly at three weeks old enjoying a mobile his nurse made from hospital labels.
By Kayla Perla
“Reilly was born with a congenital heart defect. I found out at my 20-week anatomy scan that there was an abnormality on his heart” Dawn, Reilly’s mom, shares. “From there, they sent me to UF to be closely monitored.” At 22 weeks gestation, Reilly was officially diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), which means that the left side of his heart didn’t form correctly, causing the right side of his heart to be enlarged—because it was trying to make up for the left side’s malfunctioning. “Just after Reilly’s diagnosis, I had lots of ups and downs. I struggled. Until one day, a song (“All of Me” by Matt Hammitt) changed my perspective, and it all just ‘clicked’ I know that whatever came our way, we would get through it with God.” Dawn, continues, “We anticipated 3 open heart surgeries once he was born. The first was when he was 11 days old and the second when he was 5 months old, and then the third when he was three and a half years old.” After his second heart surgery, Reilly did very well. “I was able to stay home with him for his first 18 months, be there for him and keep him from getting sick,” says Dawn.
During Reilly’s 2nd (and current) hospital stay, about 4 months after his Berlin Heart was placed.
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Reilly’s third surgery was completed in August 2019, when he was three and a half years old. However, just a short 8 months later he went into heart failure.
