A Rare Heart Condition
Little Sam had been born with a rare heart condition called unbalanced atrioventricular canal defect. This heart defect allowed blood to move freely through the four chambers of his heart, causing problems with his heart and lungs.
A normal heart has separate chambers to keep the blood from the lungs from mixing with other blood from the rest of the body. By the time Sam was two, he’d already undergone four open-heart surgeries.