In 2024, at her 10-week prenatal checkup, Caitlin Bacon learned that her son had a congenital heart defect. When he was born in September, she knew they were going to have a long road ahead.

"The type of heart disease Samuel had requires multiple surgeries," Bacon said. "On top of his stay in the NICU at the hospital."

Bacon gave birth to twins, Samuel and Anderson, at 37 weeks at Ochsner Baptist.

At six days old, Samuel had his first heart surgery, the Norwood procedure, for hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This surgery lets the right side of a baby’s heart send blood with oxygen to their body. Normally, the heart’s left side takes care of this. In a baby with this condition, the heart’s left side isn’t developed enough to do pump the oxygenated blood.

The surgery was successful, but

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