Extol August-September 2019 | Page 84

PRINCESS OF THE HEART AT FOUR YEARS of age, many a young girl dreams of being a princess. For Remi McCrite, being chosen as a princess to represent the Kentuckiana Heart Walk means much more. It’s literally a celebration of life, a success story that proves the sassy preschooler overcame not one but three life-threatening heart issues at just four months of age. The McCrites are originally from Kentuckiana, but patriarch Zach McCrite’s job took them to Oklahoma, where Brittany McCrite prepared to deliver the family’s first baby. “As a newborn, she weighed nine pounds, two ounces,” Brittany says. “We thought we had a healthy, large, slept-through-the-night, wonderful newborn. As life went on, she was sleeping a lot. She was choosing sleep over eating. That threw up a red flag. Then she started to get sick when we would feed her, her bottles. In October of 2015, after multiple doctors’ appointments, I demanded that some tests be run, and it was discovered that she had three holes in her heart.” 82 EXTOL : AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 It’s not uncommon for newborns to have small holes in their hearts, but they usually repair themselves quickly after birth. Remi’s diagnoses were more serious than originally believed, and her parents wouldn’t take “she’ll be fine” for an answer. As it turns out, baby Remi had a ventricular septal defect (VSD), the most common type that requires surgery if it doesn’t repair itself; a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) that causes abnormal blood flow between arteries connected to the heart; and a patent foramen ovale (PFO) –– a more serious hole in the heart that didn’t close all the way. If not corrected all three defects could cause serious issues through adulthood and even death. “After that, we were kind of in a whirlwind and were told that she would have to have open- heart surgery as a four-month-old,” Brittany says. “Remi’s VSD was so large, there was no other option but surgery.” On Nov. 10, 2015, the family entered Oklahoma Children’s Hospital under the care of Dr. Harold Burkhart. “They said ‘Give us hours. You’ll see