Two-and-a-half-year-old Emmett doesn’t completely understand that he needs open heart surgery, but he does know what going to the doctor’s office means.
“He does not like the hospitals,” said Jessica Hotaling, 23, Emmett’s mother. “The doctors just scare him, especially when he was younger, he would cry a lot.” Now that the family has been seeing a cardiologist regularly since Emmett was five months old, doctors have the routine down, and now enter his room carrying a toy or ball.
Emmett was born with a heart condition that has already required one surgery. He has a second, more serious surgery scheduled for September. The operation will include closing off two chambers of his heart and relocating the bottom functioning chamber to the top.
“He doesn’t understand quite yet, but he does notice his scar from first surgery, and I show that I don’t have one, and his dad doesn’t have one, but he doesn’t really understand quite yet,” said Hotaling.
As the cost of medical and travel expenses would be enormous for any parents to take on, let alone young parents, the pair has created a gofundme.com account, called “Emmett’s Boston Trip.”
Hotaling and her husband Wesley Jr. were 21 and 22, respectively, when they found out at a routine doctor’s visit their future son or daughter had a heart condition.
“Went for gender review, not even a regular doctor’s visit. Finding out at such an exciting moment was scary. It was definitely scary,” said Hotaling. She was only five months pregnant when she found out.
“It was hard because it’s our first baby,” said Hotaling about being told of her baby’s heart condition. “But you adjust to it. I couldn’t love him any different.”
The couple has been together since they met at a Friday night bowling event when she was 15. “When we decided to have a baby I thought it would be like out of storybook. Once we found out about his heart, it stopped everything,” she said.
The couple held a family-centered fundraiser with a bounce house and games on Saturday, Aug. 8, at the American Legion in Delmar. There, Bethlehem Police Officer Mike Bourbon presented them with two checks, one from the police department and one from the police officer’s union.
“Just raising a child at a young age can be extremely stressful and difficult,” said Bethlehem Police Sgt. Steve Kraz, who said there were some people on their own staff who had similarly young families.
“We understand that expenses can get out of hand and we wanted to help out in any way we could to make sure he gets the best care in the best hospital possible,” said Kraz. The Bethlehem Police were alerted to the situation by one of their employees in the records department who has ties to the family.
The family lives in Ravena, with Jessica working as a waitress and Wes working for a construction company. Both parents try to go to all of Emmett’s many doctor’s appointments, and Jessica has taken time off at work to be with Emmett before his surgery.
Wes Hotaling’s extended family, however, lives primarily in Delmar. Jessica said even though many of the adults helping them weren’t sure how to handle Emmett’s illness at first, his family has been extremely supportive.
As the Hotalings have known about Emmett’s heart condition since before he was born, a large surgery such as this has been in the works for a while now.
Such a serious surgery could not be undertaken at Albany Medical Center, where Emmett’s first surgery took place and where there cardiologist operates. Emmett also had to be at least two and a half to be able to handle the surgery.
The four ventricles in his heart are backward, and one ventricle is not active. He also has a large hole in his heart — a ventricle septal defect — which causes leaking into his lungs.
These problems cause Emmett to lose breath quickly, so his activity is limited. His past surgery lowered his oxygen levels to reduce strain on his heart. It took Emmett a month and a half in the hospital to recover from this surgery, but the Hotalings are hoping that because he is a little older now, the recovery won’t take as long.
“I just want Emmett to be comfortable. I just want him to be able to do what three year olds do and run and play,” said Jessica. Along with fixing some of Emmett’s heart problems doctors will raise his oxygen levels back to normal levels, so hopefully he will be able to be more active.
His recovery will be based largely on how he takes to the new breathing technique and how he deals with the pain of surgery.
Jessica and Wes will be staying at a lodge by Emmett’s Boston Hospital until the time comes they can stay in the hospital room with Emmett during his recovery. She said this surgery will not be Emmett’s last surgery, but the next step is something that doctors will look into once they see the results.
“We’re both nervous but ready for bigger step for Emmett,” said Jessica.
To help the Hotalings with their travel and medical expenses for Emmett’s Boston surgery, donate at http://www.gofundme.com/ybht3k8.
