Cardiac Center Patient Stories

Emmett, 1, is a cheerful baby. Treatment from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is helping him overcome a single ventricle heart defect and chylothorax.

Joe had a near-fatal incident from cardiomyopathy. He was back on the soccer field six months after a heart transplant at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. 

An innovative procedure corrected a problem in Julia’s circulatory system. Inspired by the nurses at CHOP, Julia is in school to become a nurse herself.

After a heart transplant at 9 weeks old, Katrina is now a busy college student and a fierce advocate for organ donation.

Lily was only a week old when CHOP corrected her condition called transposition of the great arteries (TGA). Now she’s an active and caring 7-year-old.

When 6-year-old Ali became seriously ill for the second time, his family believed only one place in the world could offer him the best care — Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Tyler was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a complex congenital heart defect. After a heart transplant, the 5-year-old is thriving.

Her health failing a year ago due to a leak in her lymphatic system, Gracie is now a happy, healthy 5-year-old who loves ballet and gymnastics.

It all started when Joy told her mom, Heather, that she was having chest pains. Heather’s family history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy prompted her to schedule an appointment at the Cardiac Center, where both Joy and her sister, Ryann, were found to have the gene for cardiomyopathy

Rebecca, 19, has Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes cardiac complications. When she was 3 years old, she was referred to pediatric cardiologist Marie Gleason, MD, at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia — and she’s been coming to the Hospital ever since.