“The doctors fixed my heart when I was a baby.” That’s what 4-year-old Finn Taylor, of Watertown, tells people about his special heart. When Finn was born in July of 2020, doctors found a heart murmur.
In the month before Finn’s first visit to a cardiologist, his parents, Jessica and Rob, said he slept all the time. They didn’t think much of his heart murmur at first. Their older son, Logan, was born with a heart murmur, as well, but it resolved itself before his first birthday.
“The doctors said this is a more serious situation than it was with Logan,” Jessica said. She sat with Finn during an ultrasound at his cardiologist. The doctor told her Finn would need open heart surgery to repair an extremely large ventricular septal defect, or hole in the wall separating the two lower chambers of the heart, along with pulmonary valve stenosis, which his heart valve didn’t fully open.
“If that valve had been opened, he would have been drowning in blood, but it was closed,” Jessica said. Doctors told her they had to wait until Finn was more than 6-months old for open heart surgery to repair the hole and open the valve. That February, Finn headed to surgery in Rochester.
“As a mom, knowing your baby is going under the knife is a lot emotionally,” Jessica said. Doctors told her to trust the process and Finn did very well at surgery. He was in the hospital for about three weeks, which ended up being a trying time for the family. Logan broke his wrist the day Rob and Jessica were taking Finn to Rochester. Rob ended up having to drive back and forth between hospital and home while Jessica stayed in Rochester.
“We had an outpouring of support,” Rob said of all the people and services that helped their entire family.
Now, his parents say Finn is doing great. He is a happy, healthy kid. Aside from the scar on his chest, they say you would never know he had any problems.
“I couldn’t imagine if you had told me he’d be climbing on everything!” Jessica said with a laugh.
Doctors are fairly confident Finn will only need one surgery, but there is a chance he will need one more in the future.
This April, the Taylors will take part in their first North County Heart Walk. They’ll join hundreds of other families and community members walking to help save lives.