I Know Karolyn will do Great Things! - by Becky Bishop

Karolynn is my incredible little miracle, my gift from God. She was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which is 100% fatal at 6 weeks. We went back and forth to the pediatrician and hospital trying to figure out what was wrong with her for 3 months. On October 5th 2003, Karolynn was airlifted to U of M – she was not expected to survive the night.

They discovered that Karolynn had the heart defect and rushed her into surgery the next morning. They were able to make some adjustments and stabilize Karolynn, but she spent the next few months at U of M doing her best to stay alive. Finally, Karolynn was sent home on 23 different medications as well as oxygen and a feeding tube to wait for a heart transplant.

She waited almost a full year, and on October 8th, 2004, she received a new heart. The heart transplant was a very rough surgery and Karolynn rejected the heart immediately. They knew this was possible and rushed to put Karolynn on ECHMO (life support). Two days later, Karolynn suffered a massive stroke due to ECHMO, and had to be rushed into brain surgery if she was going to survive. They had to remove her from life support to do the surgery to keep her brain from swelling inside her skull and killing her.

We asked what would happen to her heart, and the doctors said if they didn’t do this surgery, she would be dead anyway. They said,“It is up to God and Karolynn now”. All we could do was cry and pray! God is GOOD! He brought her through surgery and her little heart has not skipped a beat since.

Unfortunately, Karolynn had complete left side paralysis. We didn’t know what her quality of life would be, but all we could do is leave it in God’s hands and take it one day at a time.

As you can see, many years later Karolynn is doing VERY well! Through therapy, she was able to regain use of her left leg and some use of her left arm and hand. Karolynn didn’t walk until she was 3 years old, and didn’t talk until she was 4 years old. She still has many struggles daily, but we are grateful she is here and will count our blessings, not focus on our shortcomings. With that said, Karolynn has become a beautiful thriving young lady with a GREAT personality. She likes to listen to Christian music, talk on the phone, and visit with others. She loves to watch church online and sing along to modern music. I know she will do great things in life.