Connecticut Children's Blog

Since he was a little kid, John Kostal dreamed of flying. At 21 years old, he was on the verge of achieving it as part of the United States Air Force. Then he got the bad news. After years of working toward a coveted pilot’s slot, his medical exams had detected a lingering heart problem… […]

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 […]

Up to three out of four kids will have a heart murmur at some point in childhood, but in most cases, it’s nothing to worry about. To explain more, Connecticut Children’s pediatric cardiologist (and American Heart Association leader!) Seth Lapuk, MD, joins the blog. 1. Most heart murmurs are normal and caused by normal blood […]

“Nothing can prepare you for the moment when you realize you will not be able to hold your newborn,” says Marisol Casado. But there it was: Just 20 weeks into pregnancy, a routine ultrasound showed an abnormality in her baby’s heart. “The second my doctor told me, my heart dropped. I could feel it in […]

Growing up means blazing your own trail. For the past 13 years, Connecticut Children’s has been watching Penny Ringrose do just that. Penny, who has Down syndrome, has been coming to Connecticut Children’s since the day she was born, when she was rushed to our nationally-ranked neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for a severe heart […]

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 […]

By Shailendra Upadhyay, MD, CEPS, FHRS and Jennifer Zarrilli, MS, RD At Connecticut Children’s we focus on heart health and nutrition every day!   Dr. Shailendra Upadhyay, pediatric cardiologist and Jennifer Zarrilli, pediatric nutritionist, share five fun and educational ideas to engage the whole family in making excellent, heart-healthy choices. Want more articles like this […]

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 […]

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 […]

Alexandra was the first baby born in Danbury Hospital, an event celebrated in the local newspaper. As she grew, there was more cause for celebration: She became a formidable athlete. Swimming was her love, but when she got to Danbury High School, they didn’t have a swim program, so Alex decided to try running. And […]