Claire was born with a congenital heart ?defect (CHD). 1 in 100 babies are born with a CHD ?there are over 40 different kinds of CHDs and they are 60 times more prevalent than ALL childhood cancers yet cancer research is 5X higher and little is known about what causes CHD.

Claire?s congenital heart ?defect is known as Tetrology of Fallot with pulmonary stenosis with a rare coronary anomaly. She was diagnosed when Britney was 24 weeks pregnant. This required special scans monthly and then weekly for the remainder of the pregnancy and a level 2 NICU stay once Claire was born. This diagnosis amd the severity of the case caused Britney and Shawn to have to make the decision for Britney to leave her beloved career to stay home and care for her even more beloved daughter Claire. Putting strain on having to go to one income with heavy medical bills and regular baby care during the pandemic and gross inflation.

Claire had a CTA (Cardiac, heart ?, computed tomography angiography) on August 1st with plans for open heart surgery on August 2nd.

Before her CTA Claire was considered a typical textbook case of CHD after the CTA her CHD is now considered a severe & rare case. Surgery has been changed to August 18th.

Here is what was seen on the CTA: I am going to try to make this simple for my non-medical friends. Our heart ? is what pumps blood (carry?s oxygen which every single part of our body needs to LIVE) throughout our body. When our hearts ?pump the blood goes out a large artery called the aorta & from there the blood gets delivered to the rest of our body.

Off of our aorta we have 2 main arteries that give the heart ? muscle oxygen:

1. RCA - right coronary, heart ?, artery

2. LCA - left coronary artery

Claire?s RCA comes off of her left anterior descending (LAD) artery which is a vessel that comes off of the LCA. Keep in mind her RCA should come off of the aorta ? completely separate from the LCA.

She is also considered RCA dominant which means most of her blood supply that feeds the heart ?muscle comes from this coronary artery. EVERY person has a dominant coronary artery (right or left).

With Claire?s RCA coming off of the LAD this poses a HUGE issue for her surgeon and team as that is the EXACT area where the most precise and accurate work needs to be done to begin with AND this is her major blood supplier to her heart muscle.

Claire?s surgeon, Dr. Elizabeth Stephens, has called in Dr. Carl Backer, head of pediatric cardiac surgery at Lexington & Cincinnati?s Childrens Hospitals, to assist with Claire?s surgery. They always have 2 cardiac ? surgeons for pediatric heart ?surgeries. Claire will be having the BEST OF THE BEST!

This fundraiser is set up to help bring our tribe together and show support for Claire, her parents: Britney, Shawn and her siblings: Madyson, Lance and Chase. All profits go to help relieve financial pressures of medical bills and copays, traveling, lodging, and food. They travel over 200 miles one way to the Mayo for appointments and surgery and over 100 miles for regular monthly checkups in Fargo. This is just the begining of Claire's journey with additional surgeries coming in the future (some possibly sooner rather than later).

#prayersforclaireb