First Beat
How it all began
The Bo Huhman Heart Foundation was founded in 2021 in order to help pay for Bo’s medical bills. Along with Bo’s medical bills, the foundation aimed to assist his parents in funding living arrangements, as they waited to bring Bo home from the hospital.
Today, Bo is healthy and between major surgeries. With Bo stable and doing well, we have turned our attention to helping other families that are also suffering from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). Our goal is to offer these families support and spread CHD awareness around the nation.
HALF A HEART
Bo’s Story
In early 2021, at their routine anatomy scan, Bo’s parents, Andrew and Megan, received the devastating news that Bo’s heart was not normal: Bo’s left ventricle was severely underdeveloped. The following day, a fetal echocardiogram was performed, which revealed that Bo had critical aortic stenosis evolving into hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). Andrew and Megan were determined to not give up hope for their son, and they began pursuing all available options for treatment.
After learning that Bo’s condition was too severe for in utero intervention, the Huhmans began researching the nation’s top hospitals. Specifically, they searched for hospitals that could perform a single ventricle palliation. This is done by performing 3 surgeries: the Norwood, the Glenn, and the Fontan. Unfortunately, even with with these surgeries, there is no cure for HLHS. Bo’s heart will never be “fixed.”
Every
15
minutes a baby is born with CHD
45% of babies
admitted to Children’s National Cardiac ICU were prenatally diagnosed with CHD
Twice the Fight
On June 15, 2021, Bo was born safely in Boston, MA. He had his first surgery at 3 days old. While there were many ups and downs during the recovery period, Bo pulled through! After almost two months of recovery and hospitals stays, Bo’s parents were able to bring him home in August 2021.
The second surgery, the Glenn, was scheduled for November 2021, in Boston, MA. Unfortunately, upon their arrival in Boston, Bo and his family were given bad news: Bo was not stable enough to proceed with surgery. However, Bo was admitted and eventually improved enough to have a successful surgery in late December. Bo’s recovery went much smoother this time around and he was able to return home in early January 2022 to celebrate Christmas with his family.
Thankfully, the remainder of 2022 was mostly uneventful, outside of a the routine cardiology visits and echocardiograms every 3 months. He is followed by the wonderful cardiology team at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and is currently thriving. We don’t know for sure when Bo will have the 3rd surgery (most likely not for a couple of years). This surgery is usually performed between the ages of 2-5. Until then, Bo is enjoying being a kid and, now, a big brother!
Half a Heart
Bo’s Story
In early 2021 at their routine anatomy scan, Bo’s parents, Andrew and Megan, received the devastating news that Bo’s heart was not normal, and that the left ventricle was severely underdeveloped. The following day, a fetal echocardiogram was performed and revealed that Bo had critical aortic stenosis evolving into hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). They were determined to not give up hope for their son and they began pursuing all options for treatment.
As they were informed that Bo’s condition was too severe for in-utero intervention, they began researching the nation’s top hospitals that perform single ventricle palliation. This is done by performing 3 surgeries: the Norwood, the Glenn, and the Fontan. Even with the surgeries, unfortunately there is no cure for HLHS. Bo’s heart will never be “fixed”.
Every
15
minutes a baby is born with CHD
45% of babies
admitted to Children’s National Cardiac ICU were prenatally diagnosed with CHD
Twice the Fight
On June 15, 2021 Bo was born safely in Boston, MA. He had his first surgery at 3 days old. There were many ups and downs during the recovery period, but Bo pulled through and in August his parents were able to announce that they would be bringing him home.
The second surgery, the Glenn, was scheduled for November 2021, but when Bo and his family arrived in Boston, he was not stable enough to proceed with surgery at that time. He was admitted for a couple weeks, but improved enough to have a successful surgery in late December. Bo recovered from surgery much quicker this time around and was able to return home in early January 2022 to celebrate Christmas with his family.
The rest of 2022 was mostly uneventful besides routine cardiology visits and echocardiograms every 3 months. He is followed by the wonderful cardiology team at St. Louis Children’s hospital and is currently thriving. We don’t know for sure when he will have the 3rd surgery, most likely not for a couple years. This is usually performed between the ages of 2-5. Until then, Bo is just enjoying being a kid and now a big brother!
Half a Heart
Bo’s Story
In early 2021 at their routine anatomy scan, Bo’s parents, Andrew and Megan, received the devastating news that Bo’s heart was not normal, and that the left ventricle was severely underdeveloped. The following day, a fetal echocardiogram was preformed and revealed that Bo had critical aortic stenosis evolving into hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). They were determined to not give up hope for their son and they began pursuing all options for treatment.
As they were informed that Bo’s condition was too severe for in-utero intervention, they began researching the nations top hospitals that preformed single ventricle palliation. This is done by preforming 3 surgeries. The Norwood, the Glenn, and the Fontan. Even with the surgeries, unfortunately there is no cure for HLHS. Bo’s heart will never be “fixed”.
Every
15
minutes a baby is born with CHD
45% of babies
admitted to Children’s National Cardiac ICU were prenatally diagnosed with CHD
Twice the Fight
On June 15, 2021 Bo was born safely in Boston, MA. He has his first surgery at 3 days old. There were many up and down during the recovery period, but Bo pulled through and in August his parents wee able to announce that they would be brining him home.
The second surgery, the Glenn, was scheduled for November 2021, but when Bo and his family arrived in Boston, he was not stable enough for proceed with surgery at that time. He was admitted for a couple weeks, but improved enough to have a successful surgery in late December. Bo recovered from surgery much quicker this time around and was able to return home in early January 2022 to celebrate Christmas with his family.
The rest of 2022 was mostly uneventful besides routine cardiology visits and echocardiograms every 3 months. He is followed by the wonderful cardiology team at St. Louis Childrens hospital and is currently thriving. We don’t know for sure when he will have the 3rd surgery, most likely not for a couple years. This is usually preformed between the ages of 2-5. Until then, Bo is just enjoying being a kid and now a big brother!
Holding Hearts
Meet the Board
Behind the scenes in 2022, friends of the foundation were busy applying for non-profit status.
We are pleased to announce that as of December 2022, The Bo Huhman Heart Foundation is officially a 501(c)3 organization.
Natalie Bess Christian
President
Holli Ledbetter
Secretary
Kristen Massie
Treasurer
