BELL COUNTY, Texas — Carl Thomas Griffin, who is known as CT, is a 5-year-old boy with congenital heart disease. In his short life span he has seen it all, but has a long road ahead of him.
"We were thrown into this world of congenital heart disease five years ago when my little guy was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome not detected before birth," said Kayla Griffin, CT's mother.
It is a very critical diagnosis. Baby CT had to have emergency surgery and ever since then he's needed just a little more love than most.
He just celebrated his fifth birthday, and in those years he has had five open heart surgeries. CT's health requires checking oxygen saturations daily, a regimen of medications and sometimes getting nutrition through his gastrostomy tube (G-Tube.)
Griffin said he is doing just fine after his last surgery in September but each day comes with its own trials.
"Even though he's healthier now than he ever has before, we all know that the heart and heart disease has a mind of its own and that can quickly change," Griffin explained. "We just continue to pray and hope that the funding and the awareness continues to rise throughout time."
Keeping the pulse up and CT's ticker ticking, the Griffin family relies on the American Heart Association (AHA) and plenty of doctors.
"I've learned to live life to the fullest from these kids, what they've been through sometimes I could not even imagine," said neonatologist Dr. Niraj Vora.
He worked on the team with the doctor who identified baby CT's problem could possibly be heart related.
"Heart defects, unfortunately, are actually one of the most common birth defects that we see," said Dr. Vora. "As a neonatologist and also as a pediatrician, it is actually we're able to diagnose them more and more now with the advanced technologies that we have."
The gracious donations from One Heart Bell County advance research and technology.
"Every 10 years we come up with some new treatment, or advanced technology that's going to impact these babies and these babies are the future of our nation, right? So, if we could make it stronger and better, it's going to help us long long way," Dr. Vora added.
It's working to help keep kids like CT healthy and alive.
"We've raised him and taught him that he's just a little bit more strong, and has been through a little bit more than just any other kiddo walking down the street and that's okay," said Griffin.
The 5-year-old is full of life and embraces each day like a gift and you would never know his trials if you weren't fortunate enough to see his story and scars.