Brecken's Story
Meet Brecken!
Brecken was born on January 19th, 2021 with many complex congenital heart defects (CHD) and a condition called heterotaxy syndrome. Heterotaxy syndrome, is a rare condition where many organs are formed abnormally, in the wrong position, or are even missing. Many children with heterotaxy syndrome have complex congenital heart defects (CHD), which often make the condition challenging to treat.
In Breckens case, he was born without a spleen making him very susceptible to infections, midline liver, microtia of the left ear, appendix in the wrong location, his intestines were twisted requiring surgery, and very complex and critical heart defects. His heart defects include, total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR), Double outlet right ventricle (DORV), atrial and ventricular septal defect (ASD/VSD), pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) to name a few.
When he was days old, he had his first of many open heart surgeries to save his life. Throughout Breckens 2.5 years of life, he has dealt with so much. Countless open heart surgeries and other various surgeries, runs on life support, many scans, procedures, tests, lab draws, tubes, wires, open chest, and prolonged hospital stays.
All of his care was at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, which we are forever grateful for living so close and receiving such great care. Children's will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Brecken required one more big surgery to give him a "normal" functioning heart. We were so excited for this surgery, because it meant he would be able to have a great quality of life. Our family had planned to take Brecken to Disney for his make a wish trip after this surgery, so he would be able to fully enjoy it without getting too fatigued.
June 2023, we packed up our life and headed across the country from Wisconsin to California for this life saving surgery at Stanford Hospital. This is the hospital we were referred to by his primary team in Wisconsin.
Unfortunately, Brecken never made it home. He suffered many complications after this surgery, that ultimately took his life. On July 23rd, 2023, our sweet Brecken went to be with Jesus in Heaven.
Brecken meant everything to our family and everyone that knew him. He was loved by so many. In his short 2.5 years of life, he has made such an positive impact on thousands of people throughout the world with his infectious smile, his pure heart and the way he loved everyone and everything. He was the happiest kid, so full of life and love. Despite all he went through, he always found joy and happiness in everything he did.
