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Fixing Patrick's Broken Heart

  • A final thank you

      7 October 2014

    Patrick has just completed all his latest post-operative check ups back here in Auckland. And he is doing incredibly well!!! For the first time in nearly a year, he has completed a whole term at school. He is full of energy, happy and healthy. Other than a daily dose of aspirin he is medication free. And the arrhythmia's have ceased to bother him like they did before surgery. So, we would like to say thank you to everyone who believed in our boy, who donated, who took the leap of faith with us. The future we dreamed of for Patrick is now a reality. He will definately face more surgery in his future, but the biggest hurdle he had has been overcome. He is now a ""repaired Ebsteins"" kid. With much love and gratitude, from the Walsh family xxxxx

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  • Hello from the USA

      23 May 2014

    Well we have a million thank yous to make because Patricks surgery has been a huge success! We are currently waiting to be discharged from the hospital. We have to stay on in Rochester for another couple of weeks and have some follow up appointments but then we are good to go home. We are so happy. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts xxx

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  • Arrived in the US!

      13 May 2014

    Melanie, John and Patrick have spent the last 30 hours traveling and have now arrived in Rochester, US. They are exhausted and trying to quickly get over the jetlag before the pre-op tests at the Mayo Clinic on Thursday. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers and I will keep you updated as best I can, but for most updates, follow our facebook page www.facebook.com/fixingpatrick Thanks to your support and other off-line donations from family and friends in NZ and John's amazing hometown of Nyngan - we have raised a massive $191,000 - so thank you to each and everyone of you for helping us to give Patrick this amazing opportunity. Love Susan

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  • Update for 02/05/2014

      2 May 2014

    We had a meeting today at starship. It was to discuss access to the Ministry of Health funding. Basically, we can't access it. Patrick happens to be the rarest of cases amongst an incredibly rare CHD. The surgical procedure he is to undergo in America is relatively new. There are not a huge amount of papers published on its outcomes, although early outcomes appear good, the hospital say there are not enough published evidence based outcomes available for the hospital to present to the MOH to show that Patrick would benefit from it. And because he is rare amongst the rare, he is even harder for them to be able to treat here. So we are in a position where we could delay surgery and attempt to apply for funding that probably would not be approved, or go ahead with the surgery which is recognised as a great solution for Ebstein's, at our own expense. To hear that there is no one in NZ like our son was what crushed me. He is complicated. And that makes him almost in the too hard basket. So, John and I are taking him to the US to hopefully gain a huge benefit from a surgery that his surgeon has made his specialty and putting our faith in him. Prayers for the best outcome possible would be appreciated

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  • Pedallers for Patrick smash their total!

      20 April 2014

    The team of Patrick's Pedallers, both family and friends, rode 88kms yesterday in NSW to fundraise for Patrick. On givealittle they raised nearly $7000! What an amazing bunch! With our offline donations our total raised to date is nearly $66,000. We are very excited, thanks so much everybody.

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  • Nyngan to the rescue

      15 April 2014

    We got told last night that there is another $15,000 winging its way from the town of Nyngan. Wow, that is just amazing. For a small country town they sure know how to help people. Our running total now is over $54,000. We still have a way to go, so thank you to everyone who is helping Patrick get his wonky heart fixed xxx

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    • 02/05/2014 by Ina Tocilin

      We got told last night that there is another $15,000 winging its way from the town of Nyngan. Wow, that is just amazing. For a small country town they sure know how to help people. Our running total now is over $54,000. We still have a way to go, so thank you to everyone who is helping Patrick get his wonky heart fixed xxx

  • Off line donations and a few wonky heart beats!

      10 April 2014

    We've been very lucky to have some amazing people donate to Patrick's fund off line. So instead of the money going through give a little, the funds have been sent to us directly. All together to date, we have received another $13,000. Wow. So our total at the moment actually stands at over $36,000. Thank you so much! Patrick has had a few wonky beats and made some recordings on his cardiac monitor. Our aim now is to keep him as healthy as possible before we go. We're counting down the weeks now till we fly out to Minnesota - just over 4 weeks till departure.

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  • Our happy boy

      1 April 2014

    Patrick has been a bit poorly the last few days, and had chest pains and headaches. Its hard for him to miss so much school, but we are hoping after surgery that he will have so much more energy and be able to enjoy a lot more time with his friends. The support shown to him so far has been phenomenal. We booked our flights today, it has sunk in, we are actually going!! Thank you everyone.

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  • Update for the week

      27 March 2014

    Patrick has recovered brilliantly from surgery last week. Lets hope its a sign of things to come. We've had some great communication with the surgeon in the US who is confident he can repair Patrick's valve. And we are swinging into action to organise our trip. Thank you so much to all of you who have donated so far, without your support we would feel so alone. With much love xxx

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  • Minor surgery done and dusted!

      19 March 2014

    Patrick was admitted to Starship this week for a MRI under general anesthesia and a surgical procedure to implant a reveal device which records an ECG continuously and is used to monitor/and diagnose dangerous arrhythmias. Recovery has been great so far, but the device is quite a lot larger than anticipated and taking a while for him to get used to. But as always, he is a trooper and takes it all in his stride!!

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  • So close, an ambulance and an interview!

      8 March 2014

    Wow - we are so close to reaching our first $10,000! Thank you so much for your amazing support. This is a great start as will cover the flights and transfers for Patrick, John and Melanie. Flying to Rochester, Minnesota takes 3 flights and over 30 hours of travel! The funding needed for the actual surgery is still an unknown amount but as soon as we know we will be pushing hard to raise more. Patrick had a busy week with a wee scare and ambulance ride to Starship (however all is ok now) and also a visit from the local paper to interview him! You can see the article here. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/9797548/Fixing-a-broken-heart Thank you for your support. Susan x

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  • Follow Patrick's Journey on Facebook

      1 March 2014

    Melanie has started a Facebook page for her supporters to follow Patrick's Journey. Please like the page to follow how Patrick is going and get the latest updates. See you there. https://www.facebook.com/fixingpatrick

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  • Amazing start in 24 hours!

      1 March 2014

    Wow! This page has been live for 24 hours and we've raised $4500 already! That is a great start and I know Melanie and John are blown away by the generous support shown to them already! Thank you so much. We have such a long way to go so please keep sharing. If we can get 50,000 people to donate just $2 each, then we'll be well on the way. If anyone has ideas or media contacts please let me know dometts@gmail.com. Thank you! Faith, Hope and Love. Susan xxx

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