Gregory Guzzo
Gregory has a congenital heart defect, yet we never knew until a few months ago. Gregory is an active child and 13 years old. He wrestled for 5 plus years, played soccer, never sits still unless he is playing XBox and even then he is standing and jumping around.
Out of the blue, as he was going for his wrestling physical at school in Oct of 2013, he fails. The school physician calls and says he heard what seemed to be a murmur and he felt it was significant enough to require an ECHO and I should have him seen by his Pediatrician and Children’s Hospital only to be diagnosed with Atrioventricular Septal Canal Defect, a congenital heart defect, a condition he has had from birth.
Atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) is a multiple heart defect that involves the valves between the heart’s upper and lower chambers and the walls between the chambers. In children with AVSD, the tricuspid and mitral valves do not develop normally which then affects the growth of the atrial and ventricular septum. There is one “common” valve separating the hearts upper and lower chambers (1)(or cleft) instead of two separate valves. In addition, there is a hole in the atrial septum (2) called an atrial septal defect (his is half the size of the wall itself) and a hole in the ventricular septum with a left to right shunt (meaning the blood is lost threw the hole)(3) called a ventricular septal defect. He also has a right bundle block…which means his heart is thickened for being over worked and the electric currents have to work harder to get past the dense heart muscle.
We were informed to correct these defects Gregory was to undergo Open Heart Surgery. This was not optional. The surgery went well, and he is recovering nicely, however in Gregory’s own words, he is “FIXED not CURED”.
Since the surgery, we have established a foundation (Gregory’s Heart Warrior Foundation) to educate, promote awareness and provide charitable contributions to hospitals and families in need with CHD. We have also work with local and state legislatures to receive proclamations for CHD Awareness with the hopes of funding for research. We work in conjunction with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s Heart Institute Auxiliary Board for funding for research and we utilize social media to express the seriousness of the CHD’s with facts, statistics and CHD news. The best part is Gregory, himself speaks on behalf of his condition, he is his own advocate and the voice for so many children who are too young to express what they are going through or have lost their battle with the number 1 killer in deaths due to birth defects.
We will continue our fight for awareness, early detection, hope for a cure… as going un-diagnosed for 13 years is unacceptable and we want to prevent this from happening going forward. If we save one life, if we spread the awareness for CHDs and one child is helped… then we have done something good.