Three surgeries didn’t stop Heart Hero

15-year-old born with congenital heart defect to throw out first pitch at Friday’s ValleyCats game

Darin Vail, 2025 Heart Hero of the Capital Region Heart Walk, celebrates his 15th birthday days before game  

When Missy Vail was 19 weeks pregnant with her son Darin, she and her husband Fred learned that he had hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) – an underdeveloped left side of his heart – a leaky tricuspid valve and significant kidney problems.

Darin Vail, 15, is the Heart Hero of the 2025 Capital Region Heart Walk and Run.

Yet, when he was born, on August 6, 2009, he weighed 10 pounds and 2 ounces. He has continued to grow and thrive, and on Friday, Aug. 9, at 6:30 p.m., he will throw out the first pitch at the Tri-City ValleyCats game. Fourteen children born with congenital heart defects and their families, all members of the American Heart Association’s Cardiac Kids group – will attend the game as guests of the ValleyCats. 

Darin has also been named the Heart Hero of the 2025 Capital Region Heart Walk and Run.

“When Darin was born, we were so happy that he was a big baby!” Missy Vail said. “Dr. Neil Devejian, pediatric cardiac surgeon at Albany Medical Center, had requested that! Darin was the biggest baby in the ICU.”

Darin had his first surgery when he was just two weeks old.  Dr. Devejian performed the Norwood Procedure, which reconstructed the aorta and helped improve blood flow to Darin’s lungs with the use of a shunt. This essentially gets the right ventricle to do the work of the left.

In November 2009, when Darin was four months old, he had his second open-heart surgery.  Called the Hemi-Fontan, the shunt was removed, and the superior vena cava was connected to the lung arteries to increase pulmonary blood flow and oxygen levels.  

In June of 2010, Darin again didn’t feel well and ended up back in the hospital. His leaky tricuspid valve needed to be repaired. Although doctors had wanted to avoid it, Darin received a mechanical tricuspid valve, which means he will take blood thinners for the rest of his life.

Four years later, Darin had the third procedure associated with HLHS, the Fontan. During this surgery, the inferior vena cava, a large vein that carries deoxygenated blood from the lower body to the heart, is disconnected from the heart and attached to the pulmonary artery.

Darin also had a pacemaker placed in 2010 and replaced in 2017 and has had many heart catheterizations over the years.

“I don’t remember much about my surgeries. I was so young and mostly sedated,” Darin Vail said. “I do remember having lots of fun in the PICU at Albany Medical Center. The nurses were great, and the Child Life team had music therapy and fun activities to do.”

Today, Darin, who lives in Athens and will be a high school sophomore in the fall, lives an active life.

“I like to bowl, swim, go fishing, play video games and watch WWE,” he said.

“Darin has always been a very happy and fun kid, despite his medical issues,” Vail said. “He actually smiles and laughs during bloodwork. We’re also very grateful to Dr. Devejian; Darin’s pediatric cardiologist Dr. Steven Kamenir; and Dr. Barry Kogan, Darin’s urologist. They have all taken such great care of Darin.”

“I love being part of the Cardiac Kids,” Darin said. “They have a lot of fun events and I always get to meet new people. I was so happy to get the call asking if I would like to be the 2025 Heart Hero. I am excited to meet more heart warriors and help raise awareness.”

“Darin and his parents, Missy and Fred, have been part of the Cardiac Kids group for a long time,” Michael-Aaron Poindexter, chair of the board of directors of the American Heart Association in the Capital Region and chief program officer of the Regional Food Bank. “They are always at the Heart Walk and it’s exciting that Darin is this year’s Heart Hero! The Association is committed to helping our youngest survivors live long and happy lives. By sharing his story, Darin is helping raise awareness about the need to continue funding research so that more kids can go bowling, play baseball and hang out with their siblings.”