Southern Indiana family spreads awareness for pediatric organ donation while waiting for daughter’s heart transplant | News

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Jeffersonville child has been preventing a battle since earlier than she was born, and her household is standing by her facet to assist unfold consciousness.

Chloe Clark, 1, spends her days watching Child Shark and Cocomelon on a pill arrange above her mattress. Tucked within the nook is a mini Christmas tree embellished with pink and gold ornaments. Her closet is filled with onesies, attire and bows.

Whereas it sounds like all child lady’s nursery, it is really a hospital room inside Norton Kids’s Hospital.

“We gave her a kiss on the pinnacle and despatched her off to the NICU,” stated Mackenzie Clark, Chloe’s mom.

Chloe has a extreme, uncommon coronary heart defect referred to as Tricuspid Atresia. The appropriate a part of her coronary heart does not work correctly as a result of the valve between the highest of the center and the underside of the center performs very poorly or under no circumstances.

Whereas typically corrected with three surgical procedures, that has not been the case for Chloe. The second surgical procedure was adopted with problems, leaving her solely the choice: to bear a coronary heart transplant.

In want of routine transfusions and monitoring by docs, Chloe has spent greater than 220 days within the hospital, the longest of all her hospital stays.

“They stated, ‘Now’s the time that we’d like register her for a transplant,” Clark stated. “So we began that course of in July and formally listed her for a coronary heart transplant on August 5. So we have been ready ever since.”

Clark and her husband, Jay, take turns spending day by day with Chloe from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. And on days she’s not sick or not doing nicely, they keep in a single day. They stated, fortunately, their jobs are distant and permit them to remain near Chloe’s facet.

Her older brother, Bryce, finds time to play with Chloe in her hospital crib when he’s out from faculty.

The household is all ready for the day they will get excellent news that Chloe has a coronary heart.

“I hate how a lot life she’s needed to miss out on as a result of she’s been caught right here, however we’re additionally actually trying ahead to what life will seem like on the opposite facet of this,” Clark stated.

With out the transplant, it is unlikely Chloe can depart the hospital.

Whereas there are inconveniences that come alongside 12-plus-hour-long days in her hospital room, one factor the Clarks acknowledge is the necessity to elevate consciousness about pediatric organ donation.

“What’s additional un-talked about is pediatric organ donation, as a result of who desires to speak about something once you’ve misplaced a toddler?” Clark stated. “However as a result of individuals make selfless donations … different kids are nonetheless alive. Chloe will get an actual probability at life exterior of a hospital.” 

As Chloe continues to combat her battle, her dad, an Iraq battle veteran, stated she’s fought a more durable battle than he did.

“I have been deployed twice, each occasions in Iraq,” Jay Clark stated. “Even by means of all that, typically, along with her popping out of surgical procedure out on a ventilator, , seeing this little child simply, I do not know, there’s nothing on the planet that prepares you for that.”

So whereas the household fights with time, ready for Chloe’s subsequent chapter to start, they proceed to attend for the day she receives a brand new coronary heart and unfold the attention about her coronary heart defect and pediatric organ donations.

“She’ll go to high school,” Mackenzie Clark stated. “She’ll go on holidays. She’ll have the ability to get on an airplane and go see Grandma and Grandpa.”

To comply with Chloe’s journey the Clark’s have created a Facebook page to comply with, that includes outfits of the day and progress updates.