Nathan Tackled Open-Heart Surgery in True Warrior Fashion

When 6-year-old Nathan was diagnosed with a rare heart defect, his family turned to Children’s for a heart surgery others deemed impossible.

For 12-year-old Nathan, quitting isn’t an option. You might say persistence is in his DNA, passed down from his parents, Jennifer and Jonathan, who refused to take no for an answer.

When Nathan was 6 years old, the couple learned their son didn’t just have a heart murmur—he had a very rare heart defect called isolated pulmonary artery of ductal origin, which affects only about 1 in 200,000 people. They were told there was nothing that could be done to repair their son’s heart. So they turned to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Holly Bauser-Heaton, MD, an interventional cardiologist and co-director of Children’s pulmonary artery program, was optimistic. “There was something about the CT scan that made me think it’s worth a shot, and that’s what I wanted to give that family,” Dr. Bauser-Heaton said.

Nathan’s treatment wasn’t easy. He needed a complex open-heart surgery. Yet, through all of the challenges he faced, Nathan was a bright light of positivity. And his persistence has paid off. Today, Nathan is more active than ever. He plays soccer, and has become passionate about parkour and free running—with dreams of being on American Ninja Warrior someday.

“Nathan is a miracle. He's just got this energy and there's a vibrance about him. He never quits,” Dr. Bauser-Heaton says.

Nathan isn’t so sure about being called a miracle kid. The miracle, he says, is “everybody who helped him along the way.”