Brodie Barber

Thank you for visiting Brodie’s 


Brodie was born March 6, 2017 and up until his birth everything showed him to be a perfectly healthy little boy. Until, after a routine heart check by his pediatrician at only 10 hours old she heard something abnormal. At that point, they took him down to perform an echocardiogram of his heart. The results showed that his aortic valve was 60% blocked. He was rushed from Bergan Mercy Hospital to Children’s Hospital with his father David. The cardiologist at Children’s of Omaha decided to take Brodie immediately in for a heart catheterization procedure. They performed a balloon aortic valvuloplasty, which helped to open the valve. It held for a little over a month, but on April 27, 2017 Brodie had to undergo another balloon aortic valvuloplasty, which ended up being only a mild improvement. 


At only 3 months old, on June 3rd Brodie was taken in for an 8 hour long open heart surgery. He had the Ross procedure performed on his heart. They replaced his aortic valve with his pulmonary valve and he was given a donor human pulmonary valve. All signs pointed that the surgery was successful. Unfortunately, the next day at 10:00 in the morning Brodie’s tiny heart couldn’t handle what it was being asked to do. Brodie had a cardiac arrest as David and I were standing next to him. Multiple nurses and doctors worked tirelessly for nearly 20 minutes to revive him and by Gods Grace they did.💙Brodie was then put on the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine. Doctors weren’t sure of the damage that was caused during Brodie’s code on his heart or his brain. David and I were left with so many questions and worries. As the days passed, miraculously Brodie fought his way back! Not only is his brain functioning at the level he is suppose to for his age, but his intelligence is way above that. 

Brodie went almost two years without needing any interventions. On September 26th, 2017 Brodie needed a stent put into his valve bc he had built up to much blockage. David and I had went to Texas Children’s months before and got a second opinion on Brodie. Texas Children’s and our family decided it would be fine to do the procedure here. Brodie went in for his stent procedure in the cath lab with Dr. Curzon. All signs pointed to that everything went good. Unfortunately yet again, the echocardiogram showed otherwise. The stent that was inserted didn’t stay in place and shot into his pulmonary artery. We were devastated, but had to believe since God brought us to this point he would bring us through it. We discussed many options and took many opinions from Omaha and Texas and all agreed to leave it in. We left with one more stent than we wanted, but Brodie continues to fight and be so very strong! The one thing that has amazed me the most on this journey is the resilience and fight Brodie has in him. He is Brodie Strong!💙❤️