Parker Ramirez was born with two holes in his tiny heart. Ventricular septal defects (VSDs) are a common type of congenital heart defect, and while they can cause problems, the majority of them simply close on their own. Sure enough, while baby Parker was still being monitored in the NICU, one of the holes closed. Parker’s parents, Christine and Anthony, took their baby home with the understanding they would need to bring Parker in every six months to monitor his heart.

For six years there were no issues. Then a scan revealed that the hole had led to an aortic valve leak. Once again, they were told the leak wasn’t necessarily a problem, but it would need to be monitored. Several more years went by and every heart scan showed no change. Parker had no concerning symptoms. By the time he turned 11, Christine and Anthony began to feel like maybe they’d dodged a bullet. Parker has other health challenges the family had to navigate, but at least in the heart department, all seemed well.

Bad News

Then, in February 2024, the family got news they’d hoped to never hear. The aortic valve leak had gotten worse. The doctors said ultimately the leak would progress and the pressure of blood against the valve would be risky. Their recommendation was to do surgery to repair the hole and the leak. Open heart surgery. On their little boy.

Christine burst into tears. “I was so afraid. How could I even communicate this to my son in a way he would understand?” Having worked in healthcare for 18 years she has an insider knowledge of the medical system. Her mind started racing. Who should I call? Where should we go? Where do we begin? “We wanted the best care for our son. We wanted to know what we were doing would be the right thing.”

A Call for Help

The surgery was necessary but not emergent. The family could go home and consider their options and get things lined up. “We pretty quickly decided this was too major not to get a second opinion,” says Anthony. Through his membership in YPO, Anthony knew he had access to Healthnetwork. “It’s the kind of thing you’re glad to know about but pray you never have to use. But over the years I’d heard countless stories from other members who had amazing results.”

Christine remembers watching her husband type the email to initiate a medical request. “And then literally within 24 hours we got a call from Dan Rush at Healthnetwork,” she says. “I was caught off guard and super impressed by how fast they responded.”

In Good Hands

Things continued to move quickly. Dan connected the family with Dr. Hani Najm, a cardiovascular surgeon at Cleveland Clinic. After a detailed phone call, Dr. Najm told Christine and Anthony before surgery, he would like them to see his cardiologist colleague Dr. Justin Tretter, who would likely order a 4D CT scan of Parker’s heart.

“A week later I’m talking on the phone to Dr. Tretter about what he’s going to do,” says Christine. “I was just blown away by these two doctors’ level of expertise and how they took time to talk with us on the phone personally.”

Meanwhile, Anthony was researching the physicians and reading about how important the 4D CT technology is because of how meticulous the measurements are. Sure enough, in Parker’s case, it revealed a critical piece of information about his heart. Over 11 years, none of the myriad scans on Parker’s heart had shown what the 4D CT scan showed—Parker had a bicuspid valve, a congenital heart defect, where the aortic valve has only two leaflets instead of the usual three. This meant Parker faced a higher risk of his aortic leak worsening, and it had implications for how the surgery should be performed.

Anthony prepped his executive team at his business in Chicago, and Christine, who manages payroll for the company, trained a replacement. And then, the family drove to Cleveland. They’d be away from home for three months.

Next Level Experience

The experience at Cleveland Clinic was both impressive and exhausting. “The communication was next level,” says Anthony. The couple was continually impressed with all the doctors and nurses and felt they were in the best hands. But even being in the right place doesn’t take away from the fact that their only child, their little boy, had to have heart surgery. And as it turns out not one but two heart surgeries.

After an entire month in Cleveland, two heart surgeries, and a few other minor procedures and health scares, the Ramirez family finally left Cleveland. Christine remembers tears of joy and high-fives that day. They stayed on the road for another couple of months to keep a close eye on Parker and make sure he recovered well. The way Parker’s brain works, he never would have understood the restrictions like he couldn’t bend over or jump around,” Christine explains. So they took a long road trip. They're back home in Chicago where they continue to have Parker’s heart monitored regularly. They say the experience with Healthnetwork and Cleveland Clinic set the bar extremely high and they wonder if any future medical care will ever be able to measure up. Hopefully, they’ll never have to find out. In the meantime, they are enjoying being back home, and back to work, and are planning a well-deserved family trip to Europe.