Connecticut Children's Blog

If needed, even the tiniest babies and those with the most severe heart problems can undergo heart surgery at Connecticut Children’s – including via minimally invasive techniques like video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, or VATS. Helping lead the way is congenital cardiac surgeon Raina Sinha, MD, MPH, FACC, one of just 18 female pediatric cardiac surgeons practicing […]

At the age of 5, Jenna-Lee loves learning from her teachers at school and is excited to head back to the classroom this fall. She also loves dancing, playing piano and belting out her favorite songs. She can often be found helping to care for her younger brother, Indio, age 3, and engaging in spirited […]

Diana and Jarrod Perry remember sitting in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Connecticut Children’s, hearing that their newborn daughter needed open-heart surgery – and that her condition was so unique, specialists from the Divisions of Cardiac Surgery, Cardiology, Neonatology, General Surgery, Orthopedics and Plastic Surgery were working together to create a whole new […]

February is Heart Month, a good time to make sure your child is getting the physical activity they need. The American Heart Association recommends children ages 6 to 17 get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. Preschoolers and toddlers need even more than that. But it’s also February in […]

Upon entering a room, here are some things that 3-year-old Vondel is likely to do: take off his shoes, start running laps and pause only to coax a smile out of whoever’s in range. He’s a trickster, say parents Jade and Douglas, and a natural comedian. The Cardiology and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) teams […]

At 2 and a half years old, Lincoln is a chatterbox, a flirt and in the words of mom Jennifer, “a ham and a half.” He is also the survivor of five congenital heart defects. “They ended up like family” Lincoln’s heart defects were discovered the day after he was born, in a routine oxygen […]

“The nurses and doctors were kind and told me what to expect after my son was born. But nothing can prepare you for the moment when you first realize you will not be able to hold your newborn,” Marisol shared while sitting in a Cardiology exam room at Connecticut Children’s. From the moment Marisol confirmed […]

Olivia Belfonti wasn’t even born yet when her parents, Tricia and Arnold, knew there was trouble—serious trouble—with their baby. Tricia was 19 weeks pregnant when an ultrasound showed that Olivia’s heart had only one ventricle. Instead of the normal arrangement, where one side of the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the rest […]

For Siaana’s family, every day is a day of thanksgiving. Siaana, a sweet little girl who just turned 5, was diagnosed with a rare heart defect in November 2014, just days before the Thanksgiving holiday. Her parents, Annie and Ajay of Wethersfield, were shocked to learn that their 10-month-old daughter had a congenital heart condition […]

It was October 21, 1996, and Shari Cantor had just given birth to her fourth son, Jacob, at Hartford Hospital. At first Jacob seemed to be perfectly healthy. “I was sitting there with this beautiful baby with a perfect Apgar score,” Shari says. “But then one of the nurses came to look at him and […]