She’s physically and
developmentally right
on track for her age,
thriving and spreading
happiness to all who
know her story.
made possible through advances in medicine, research,
and new technology, which are supported in part by
the many volunteers and donors of the American Heart
Association. 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 save 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
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