Conner’s Story

Site created on December 5, 2019

As some of you know, Conner has been diagnosed with a rare congenital heart condition - an anomalous coronary artery. This journey has been a little scary for all of us as his Cardiologist in Kansas City had never seen this before - so he referred Conner’s case to the Mayo Clinic. From here on out - we will do our best to keep you updated as we navigate surgery, initial recovery, coming home, and ultimately getting Conner completely recovered! 


Much has changed over the course of this journey. The first surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN did not go as planned as he experienced a 'one in a million' complication. Conner had to recover at home after having an exploratory sternotomy, aka they cut his chest cavity open to preform open heart surgery but no procedure occurred. Since the ongoing pandemic has affected the medical industry so much, Conner felt it was necessary to wait until the waters calmed a bit before having surgery again. Now that the opportunity has presented itself, Conner has elected to explore a secondary opinion and surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. 




Read below to learn about the journey to getting Conner's heart fixed!

Here’s a quick link to Conner’s GoFundMe! 
https://www.gofundme.com/f/reopening-conners-heart




Newest Update

Part 20 - Out of the Clinic

Journal entry by Shelby Blinzler —

I’m going to keep this as short and sweet as possible! 

We got released from the hospital about 2pm yesterday. Conner wanted to be outside rather than try to get in a shuttle, so I pushed him in the wheelchair back to the hotel. It was absolutely beautiful out. 

We are always making adjustments to how he’s sitting/moving to keep him comfortable. Just a bit ago we ventured downstairs and outside to get some fresh air - he walked the whole way! 

We have a follow up appointment tomorrow morning with the Surgeons, then we will officially prepare to travel home Saturday. 

Read More of the journal titled "Part 20 - Out of the Clinic"
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