surgeon, Dr. Victor Morell, chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery and co-director of the
Heart Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, UPMC, uses these new developments to
saves lives every day. “In our family, he is definitely everybody’s hero,” said Rachel Hutchinson.
After returning home, Harper got her stitches out two weeks later and put on weight like
crazy. By May, she was off all medication with no restrictions. Harper is strong and fully able
to run, play, eat any and all foods, and is learning new things every day. In the future, she
will have to follow up with her cardiologist every six months, but that’s certainly nothing to
hold her back. She’s physically and developmentally right on track for her age, thriving and
spreading happiness to all who know her story. “She’s the kind of kid who can take a room by
storm,” said Rachel. Considering how far she’s come, even those toddler moments are easily
overlooked.
After the reality set in that Harper was going to be fine, Rachel decided to give back and
volunteer to help with the annual Heart Ball, the largest fundraising event for the Washington
County/Mon Valley Division of the American Heart Association (AHA). The event
coordinators heard Harper’s story and invited her to be one of the spokespeople for the event.
“We were very honored by being asked to speak at the ball. She’s the reason I am so passionate
about raising money for the American Heart Association,” said Rachel, who knows first-hand
about the benefits.
According to the AHA, heart disease remains our country’s number-one killer; more people
die from cardiovascular disease each year than al