Zachary Cam Duong was born on September 4th, 2003. with Transposition

of the Great Arteries, or TGA for short. TGA is when the Great Arteries are switched so that the blood can not get oxygen from the lungs. Any easy way of understanding it is that the circulation is supposed to look like an 8, and instead it was two circles next to each other not interacting like it should.

The moment of birth he was Cyanotic (blue), and they had him on a

respirator instantly. He was born at Winchester hospital and transported to Children's Hospital Boston within the first 2 hours of life.

We did not learn about the heart defect until he was diagnosed by Children’s Hospital Boston several hours after his birth. From the beginning Zachary was in trouble. There is a hole in your heart that closes once born called the Patent Ductus, it helps the blood get oxygen while the baby is in the womb. Once Zachary was born the Ductus started to close. CHB tried to keep it open with a balloon through a Cath procedure, unfortunately he had a hemorrhage in his lung during the cath and had to be put on ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, which is a bypass machine to supply oxygen to his whole body, while his heart and lungs rest.

Six days later, Dr Mayer operated on his walnut size heart and completed the Arterial Switch. However, they kept Zach’s chest open for 12 days due to fluid and in case they needed to go back in. After several cath procedures they found he had several severe blood clots in his major veins. Once they figured that out, they gave him an anticoagulant and he improved almost over night. So after almost 3 months in CICU Zachary went to the Cardiac floor at CHB and we were there less than a week. The first month was back and forth to CHB for blood checks and heart checks but he was doing well. In January 2005 we got the all clear from the heart stand point. They would only need to seem him every year from that point on.

Zachary’s story continues, in March 2005 he was diagnosed with Hepatoblastoma, liver cancer. Zachary started Chemotherapy treatments and after 3 months he had a Liver Transplant. Due to complications after the transplant Zachary is now living with Cirrhosis of the Liver and Portal Hypertension. Overall, Zachary is a very active 4 year old boy who loves playing with his older brother Max. He is going to Preschool and will be attending Kindergarten in September 2009. We have our ups and downs with Zachary and he may need another Liver Transplant but he isn't letting anything from his past slow him down. He is determined to make his mark on this world and we are here to help him.

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