Cole Stringer

As some of you may know, Cole was born with a congenital heart defect. In January of 2004, when Cole was a month old, he underwent open heart surgery to repair and close 3 holes in his heart and also received an artificial mitral valve. He has endured and overcome many difficult challenges and complications along the way. Cole has shown us that he is a fighter and he never ceases to amaze us daily with his strength and perseverance. 


Cole now has outgrown the artificial valve and faces another open heart surgery to replace it. This time, Cole will be getting a biological (tissue) valve instead of an artificial one. This will allow him to come off his blood thinner medication that he takes daily. His surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday, January 24th at Batson Hospital - UMMC. 


Cole was admitted to Batson today (January 20th) so he can receive heparin infusions. This is done before the surgery to help reduce the risk of blood clots in the veins, arteries or lung. We will be here for at least a week. They expect him to be in the ICU for 1-2 days after surgery then he will be transferred to a room for 5 days. If all goes well, he will get to come home to recover. The nurses and staff here at Batson have been wonderful! Cole has already won them over with his dry wit and humor. 😊


We are trusting our loving God every step of the way. Thank you all for your prayers, love and support during this difficult time. I will be posting on here as often as I can with updates regarding Cole's surgery and recovery.