Children’s Miracle Network to feature Lake City boy

Nasir Montgomery of Lake City is one of three McLeod Miracle Children who will be featured during Saturday’s Children’s Miracle Network Celebration Broadcast on WBTW News13.

At three weeks old, Nasir was diagnosed with pulmonary atresia and tricuspid atresia. There are four valves in the heart. The two valves associated with the right side of the heart are the pulmonary valve and the tricuspid valve. McLeod Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. Charles Trant explained that when Nasir’s heart developed, he did not form either one of these valves, meaning the entire right pumping chamber of his heart is missing.

He was immediately flown to the Medical University of South Carolina for surgery to correct his complicated heart condition.

In explaining the heart’s anatomy, Trant said there is a blood vessel right above the heart that is called the ductus arteriosus, which is a normal structure in-utero. After a baby is born, this structure is not needed it anymore and is supposed to pinch off and disappear. In Nasir’s case, the ductus was the only way he was getting blood supply to his lungs. When it started to close off, he was getting less blood to his lungs and less oxygen to his body. This is when his body started to shut down. If it had closed when it was supposed to, Nasir would have died.

The surgeons at MUSC performed a total of three operations on Nasir. The first surgery involved creating an artificial ductus. A little tube was placed between the aorta and the blood vessel going to the lungs to provide the blood flow he needed for a period of time until he could undergo the next surgery. During the second surgery, the artificial shunt was removed. The surgeons then hooked up the blood vessels coming down from his head and shoulders and directed this blood flow straight into one of the blood vessels going into his lungs, bypassing his heart. Nasir has his third and final surgery in August of 2008 at the age of three. This operation shunted the blood from his lower body straight up the lungs, again bypassing the heart.

Today, Nasir reminds you of any other very active 4-year-old boy. He continues to see Trant for regular follow-up appointments. His parents describe him as a gift from God who is wide open from sun up to sun down.

McLeod Children’s Hospital is one of 170 children’s hospitals in North America that comprise the Children’s Miracle Network, a nonprofit organization that aims to help children by raising funds and awareness for its members. Each year, these nonprofit hospitals treat more than 17 million children afflicted with disease, injuries and birth defects of every kind by providing medical care, life-saving research and preventive education, according to a press release.

In 2008, more than 26,000 children received needed care from McLeod Children’s Hospital either as an inpatient, outpatient or rehabilitation patient.

This year marks the 26th year of the Children’s Miracle Network Celebration Broadcast at McLeod.

Viewers can call in pledges during the broadcast, from noon until 8 p.m. Saturday, to support the care of infants and children in the region at McLeod Children’s Hospital.

Donations to McLeod Children’s Hospital can be made during the Children’s Miracle Network Celebration Broadcast by calling (843) 665-4100 or (866) 668-4862 (toll-free) or by visiting McLeodFoundation.org and clicking on the Children’s Miracle Network icon.