Hi,

 

My name is Sawyer Hooks, I was born with tetralogy of Fallot a congenitial heart condition.  I had to come into the world a littler earlier than expected, I was in a hurry to meet my mom and dad!  My pulmonary valve was pinched shut when i was born so the blood circulating throughout my body had very little to no oxygen it it.  This would make me turn really blue and scare the heck out of my mom and dad.  When i was only 11 days old I got to fly on a helicopter to Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami (not for fun though)  When i was 16 days old Dr. Burke and his team did a full repair on the valve.  

 

Everything was fine until I started to get really tired easily and I would get dark circles under my eyes when I was 6.  When we went in to have everything checked out they told my dad that tons of scar tissue had formed around the repair and it was making blood flow really weak.  The docs told us we had to get in for a surgery and quickly.  So we all went back to Nicklaus Children's Hospital ( the coolest hospital ever!! they had so many toys and things for me to do) for another repair. 

 

This time they put a conduit in to correct the issue and hopefully they won't ever have to do a complete open heart surgery again.  I was so brave and strong, I was walking on my own the day after my surgery, dad and mom couldn't beleive it!!  My dad has always told me God wanted to put extra love in my heart and thats why I had the surgeries.  I know that may not be the entire truth but he just didn't want me to be scared.  

 

Today I enjoy tumbling, boxing and swimming.  I spend all my time with my family doing things together.  I am so grateful for my life, family and everyone who has supported me up to this point.  Thank you for taking the time to read my story!

 

I Walk to Save Lives. Help me reach my goal today.​