Meet Grace, Our Children’s Health RE/MAX Champion

Grace wasn’t even born yet when she was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a birth defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart.

But she has been a fighter from the beginning. Now, Grace is a spunky 5-year-old girl who loves her pool time, boat rides and playing with her three siblings. And next fall, she’ll start kindergarten – a milestone her family credits to the care she received at Children’s Health.

The little girl also proudly serves as the Children’s Health RE/MAX Champion, a local ambassador position through Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals that helps raise money and awareness for Children’s Health.

Grace has been a patient of Children’s Health since she was a baby. At six months old, her family relocated to Dallas, and she was airlifted to Children’s Medical Center Dallas from another hospital for close monitoring after coding in an Emergency Department from a buildup of lymphatic fluid in her lungs.

By this point, she’d already undergone two intensive cardiac surgeries – one of which lasted 15 hours.

The Children’s Health team aided Grace in a speedier-than-expected recovery, and she was discharged after a combined 12 weeks in both hospitals.

Since then, Grace has relied on a gastrostomy tube to help her eat and drink and receives daily therapy, in addition to weekly immune system infusions.

Her team at Children’s Health closely monitors her on a weekly basis, and she visits her cardiologist every two to three months.

In April 2018, Grace underwent her third cardiac surgery with the hope of delaying the need for a heart transplant and is currently participating in an intensive five-week outpatient feeding therapy program at Our Children’s House.

Throughout the year, RE/MAX supports patients like Grace through their Miracle Home and Miracle Agent Programs. These initiatives allow participating agents to donate a portion of each transaction to Children’s Health to “help bring kids home.”