Heart Disease Doesn't Keep 8-Month-Old Oklahoma Boy Down

February is Child Congenital Heart Disease awareness month. A long title, but basically, one in every 110 babies is born with a congenital heart defect.

That's about 40,000 a year.

Finding the defect early, even during pre-natal visits, can greatly improve the chances for a successful outcome.

Kenton is an adorable 8 month old, born with a heart defect.

Tina Grego, Kenton's mom said, "A congenital heart defect called hypo-plastic left heart syndrome."

Simply, his heart didn't fully develop. Grego said they found the problem during one of her prenatal ultra-sounds. That is very important because doctors were ready for it when he was born.

During his first five months he had two heart surgeries.

"They reroute his circulatory system," Grego said. "They bypass the left ventricle."

He's had few complications as a result of the surgeries, essentially because doctors knew what to expect and were ready for it.

They have to be extra careful, early on anyway, how much Kenton is exposed to. The family hasn't been able to take him to church to show everyone how he's doing, so last Sunday, church came to them.

Folks at the New Heart Fellowship church in Broken Arrow made signs and stuck them in the yard, just to be sure Kenton's family knew they were thinking about them.

During his extensive stays at St. Francis Hospital, he's accumulated quite a few strings of beads of courage. He has two beads representing heart surgeries. Each bead is a stick or a poke or a new I-V

He's had three hospital stays, but his heart is working better.

You can follow Kenton or, Super K as he's become known in the neighborhood, on Facebook or their website.