BATON ROUGE — Heart Defect Awareness week takes place in February, and the entire month raises awareness for heart-related diseases and illnesses. One local mom wants there to be more discussion about congenital heart defects and is doing so through sharing her own son’s story.
East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Deputy Hollie Pacheco’s son Santino was diagnosed with a ventricular septal defect (VSD) and atrial septal defect (ASD). In simple terms, he had defects in his heart’s top and bottom valves, along with a heart murmur.
Although heart defects can be detected during a pregnancy, Pacheco did not know her son had anything wrong until he was born.
“As soon as they listened to his heart with a stethoscope, they said he definitely has a murmur, and we hear some extra things going on,” she recalled.
A cardiologist diagnosed Santino at just a few days old, and Pacheco said she had no idea what to do except cry.
“I was devastated. I thought it was the end of the world. I was thinking the worst,” she said.
However, the cardiologist kept reassuring her that this was a fairly common type of defect and that the holes would likely close on their own.
One of Santino’s valves did not close, and the family opted to do surgery. They went to New Orleans for the procedure in May 2023 when Santino was five.
Doctors opt to do this surgery when the child is older, because many times the valve holes will close themselves. Santino’s smaller hole closed; it was about 3-4 millimeters wide. The larger hole, however, was still open.
Before the surgery, doctors used a camera to check the size of the remaining hole. What they discovered was that it was double the size it was projected to be.
Originally, they thought it was about 7 millimeters, but it was actually closer to 14 millimeters, Pacheco said.
The cardiologist initially told them it was possible to wait longer to have the surgery, but once they realized the size of the hole, he said he was glad they did it when they did. Pacheco said part of the reason she opted to do the surgery when they did was because Santino was starting to play sports and the fear that something could happen stayed in the back of her mind.
“He had to be on blood thinners, and even simple things like going to the dentist, he had to be on antibiotics,” his mom explained.
The surgeon and his team used a PFO (patent foramen ovale) closure. A flexible tube is inserted into a blood vessel that is then guided to repair the hole that needed to close.
Surgery was successful for Santino.
Although the holes have mended, Santino still visits his cardiologist once a year. His heart rate tends to be slower (bradycardia), but he can do many things.
He is able to play sports like baseball, but his mom admits she is too nervous to let him play tackle football because of the PFO device used to repair the defect.
Both Pacheco and Santino have participated in a heart walk where they met many others from the local area who deal with similar issues. Pacheco said she never realized just how common it actually was and that there is no specific reason it occurs.
The community of other families going through similar battles with congenital heart defects has been a comfort to the mom when navigating surgery and doctor visits, she said.
According to the CDC, congenital heart defects affect 1% of births. One in four of those born with a defect will have a critical defect, meaning they need surgery or other procedures in their first year.
Pacheco is grateful her son is able to live a mostly normal life now with the help of medical professionals who guided them through uncertain moments.
“These heart doctors, especially Dr. Hixon, they they deserve all the praise they are so good with these babies,” she said.
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