The gift: The shape of a heart

HUB CITIES TIMES

Jason Anderson waited on the heart transplant list for seven years. He passed away in December 2007, never receiving a new heart. (Submitted photo)

MARSHFIELD — Jason Anderson was born in August 1971. Weighing just four pounds, he struggled from his first breath.

“He came into the world not in very good shape,” explained Carol Anderson, Jason’s mother. “They took him away from me right away and put him in an incubator. … They already knew that he had some sort of heart condition. They didn’t know what.

“Then they did a heart cath when he was 2 years old. That is when they take these tubes and do a study of the heart.”

Jason suffered from a congenital heart disease: Tetralogy of Fallot.

“It was one of the worst heart conditions a child at that time could have,” explained Carol.

At age 5 Jason had his first heart surgery at Mayo Clinic.

“He never really seemed to recuperate out of that surgery,” Jason’s father, Larry, said.

Soon the Andersons were back at Mayo.

“At that time they did a real in-depth study of the heart,” said Larry. “Here the two arteries were mixed up, and the blood was going backwards through the heart. He wasn’t getting oxygenated blood.” Continue reading

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