We walk for our employees who are surviors…beloved family and friends and RVP of Region D, the Szafranski family. Read their story below.
Jack was born in 2018 with a congenital heart defect (VSD). As scary as this may sound, what we learned early on that VSD/(hole in the heart) is extremely common and most resolve on their own by age 5. On January 9th, 2023 our happy, healthy son, Jack, had his 5 year annual cardiologist appointment in which we learned that the hole in his heart had not closed up and additional intervention would be required. It had not even occurred to us that open heart surgery would be a real possibility, but the feelings of fear and helplessness as we walked through the days and months ahead were terrifying. After the initial shock wore off, all focus and efforts shifted to education, learning, and utilizing resources. Support from organizations like AHA and the Children’s Heart Foundation helped us to understand and better navigate what this meant for our son and our family in the short and long term. This, along with the incredible outpouring of love and support that we received from our community and our Enterprise family helped uplift our family through such a challenging time. I am happy to report that Jack had his surgery in April and after a successful recovery he is no longer on any restrictions. He started kindergarten this year and looks forward to starting soccer again in late September!