Primary Children’s 12 Days of Miracles: Day 4
Gavin Skirucha was born with an abnormal heart valve. A diagnosis of “critical pulmonary stenosis” meant he would always deal with a heart that wasn’t as strong as everyone else’s. His mother interpreted that to mean he should take it easy the rest of his life. Gavin thought differently.
When Gavin was born he was blue. There was severe obstruction of the pulmonary valve in his heart. Gavin’s physicians decided to intervene immediately. At 12 hours old, Gavin had his pulmonary valve dilated with a balloon catheter to open up the blockage
“That got it open to where it was pretty much like it will function but it leaks,” says Laura Skirucha, Gavin’s mom. “So one day we’re going to have to probably do something about this.”
With his valve now open, Gavin grew up like a normal boy but with a heart valve leakage that kept getting worse and worse.
“He had no signs, externally, of this,” Laura says. “He’s been a stellar athlete. He played in his basketball game on Saturday and he ran a 5k two weeks ago. He skis. He ran cross country in seventh grade.”
Earlier this year, Gavin’s physician, Dr. Ronald Day, noticed significant amounts of wear and tear on the right side of his heart during a routine check up and told Gavin that he would have to receive a valve replacement surgery. Dr. Day suggested July as a good time for the surgery. Gavin asked if they could postpone so that he could play football all season. Dr. Day consented and Gavin finished up the season and received his valve replacement surgery Dec. 10.
Gavin is planning on taking it easy for a while, but he has received permission from Dr. Day to play in his junior high basketball team’s play-offs in March if he recovers from surgery without complications.
When asked what his miracle was, Gavin said, “I’ll get to play football again.”
Gavin’s dream is to play football for Notre Dame. In fact, when the Fighting Irish caught wind of his condition, they sent a plaque signed by all members of the team to Gavin’s home.
When asked what her miracle was, Laura said, “My miracle is just having a healthy kid.”
