Heart-felt struggle

P Infant's struggle to live shows importance of heart disease research.

For more information about becoming involved with the Heart Walk, contact Debbie Monroe at 335-4403.

By Katie Duncan ~ Daily Dunklin Democrat

KENNETT, Mo. -- Garrett Laramore plays like any 2-year-old child does. He enjoys tossing a ball with his father, Jody, and reading books with his mother. But look into his eyes and you realize he is wise beyond his years.

Garrett suffers from a rare heart condition and continues to fight the disease -- even after several surgeries. Organizers of the American Heart Association Heart Walk hope his story is an inspiration to the participants who gather Saturday.

The walk begins 9 a.m. at Jackson City Park.

"His story is an inspiration to everyone," said Debbie Monroe, regional director for the heart association. "People too often think only old people suffer from heart diseases but they can affect everybody, including children."

Garrett's mother, Pam Laramore, will share her son's story during the walk. His grandmother, Donna Spencer, also will be a participant in the event.

The Laramores are happy to have their son represent the organization that funds the research that saved his life.

"It is a miracle he is still here," said Pam Laramore. "I know that God gave him to us for a reason."

Garrett has had some tremendous struggles in his young life. Any mention of the word "doctor" and he announces his refusal to visit such a person, but maybe it's because he's seen more of doctors and hospitals in just two years that some people experience in a lifetime.

When Pam and Jody Laramore were expecting their first child in November 1998, things seemed to be fine. The family was planning a move from Portageville, Mo., where Jody worked as a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper to Kennett.

But Garrett arrived a month earlier than expected. He was born Oct. 29, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Shortly thereafter, doctors realized something was wrong.

Garrett's hands and feet were blue. His breathing was rough and labored. His chest would cave in upon each breath. Even oxygen didn't improve or change his condition.

The doctor ordered a pediatric cardiogram which confirmed that Garrett had a heart condition but it couldn't show the severity.

Within 24 hours of birth, Garrett was flown to St. Louis to see a pediatric cardiologist. The newborn had to travel alone because his mother was recovering from a Caesarian section and couldn't fly. His father was admitted to the hospital for kidney stones.

Before the child left Cape Girardeau, Spencer insisted that her daughter have a picture of the child. It was the first time Pam was able to see her son.

Both sets of the child's grandparents traveled to meet the infant at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Three days after Garrett's birth, Jody Laramore was able to hold his son.

Testing in St. Louis showed that Garrett had several heart defects and there is no known reason or medical explanation for his condition, which included double outlets on the right ventricle, vessels that were switched and a narrow aorta. There also were two openings between the upper and lower chambers of his heart.

Doctors explained that one of the defects -- an opening between the two lower chambers of the heart -- was the only thing keeping the Laramores' son alive. The opening allowed Garrett's oxygenated and unoxygenated blood to mix.

Doctors schedule a surgery four days after Garrett's birth. The surgeons repaired the narrow aorta and placed a band on his pulmonary artery to reduce the blood flow to his lungs.

After the surgery, Garrett's hands and feet were pink and his breathing was returning to normal for the first time since birth.

But his struggle was just beginning. Doctors sent the infant home for a week so the family could bond and the child could gain strength before his next operation -- open heart surgery.

By late November, Garrett was now three weeks old and scheduled for his second surgery. Doctors switched the position of his arteries and patched the opening in his heart's lower chamber. The upper chamber opening was left to close on its own but doctor's couldn't fix the double outlet. There is no known procedure to repair the condition for which the aorta and pulmonary artery are both on the right side of the heart. Normally the aorta is on the left side of the muscle.

Two days later, doctors called Pam and Jody Laramore at their hotel room and told them to rush to the hospital. Garrett was in the intensive care unit because his blood pressure had dropped and medication hadn't helped yet. A ventilator was helping Garrett breathe but the infant had contracted an infection in his blood stream.

Doctors told the Laramores their son needed to be on life support to stabilize his body. And even then, the infection could spread.

The Laramores approved the life support and went to phone their pastor. Church members began a prayer chain, where one person calls another to prayer.

The couple prayed and laid hands on their son. Within hours his blood pressure began to rise. His doctors had no explanation.

The doctor just said "'We'll take any miracle we can get,'" Pam said.

But there were other complications. Garrett's kidneys were failing and he needed dialysis. Just hours after a special surgery team was called in, Garrett's kidneys recovered and the dialysis was canceled.

The Laramores know that prayer works. "Our son was on prayer chains all over the state," Pam said. "Prayer is the only way we were able to get through all that we have endured."

After two months in St. Louis, Garrett was able to go home. Just like any first-time parents, Pam and Jody Laramore had to learn how to take care of their son. But their care included learning CPR and how to give medications and how to feed the baby through a feeding tube.

"Most people think, just like we thought, you have a baby and two or three days later you come home," Jody said. "But Garrett was in the hospital for two months."

Garrett still has to visit a cardiologist once a year and will have to undergo more heart surgeries to remove scar tissue and make repairs. The Laramores don't know what the future holds, but doctors are pleased with his development.

Pam Laramore said doctors are surprised at how well Garrett is doing. "They thought he would be behind developmentally because the first two months of his life were in a hospital. I worry about him so much. I wonder how he is doing. When he sleeps, I find myself checking on his breathing. He has gone through more than most people go through in their lifetime."