Andrew Bilodeau

Hi. My name is Andrew Bilodeau. I am 12 years old and in the 7th grade. i live in Downey with my mom and dad and my brother, Michael.

When I was 9 years old,  I had open heart surgery at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.  I am here to briefly tell you about my experience.  After suffering a number of fainting spells, the doctors found a hole between the upper two chambers of my heart, also known as an arterial septal defect.  The cardiologist tried to fix it with an outpatient procedure, however, that did not work.  I had open heart surgery on August 12, 2008.

This was a very traumatic time for my parents and me.  We were all scared, but the staff at Children’s Hospital was terrific.  They did everything they could to ease our nerves and answer all our questions.  I had to have a few tests before my procedures and everyone was extremely kind and caring.  Their main concern was always me!

I am one of the lucky ones.  Once my heart was repaired, I was fine.  I have no other medical problems.  I saw kids in the hospital who were there for months.  I was the oldest child in the cardiac intensive care unit.  Most of the others were babies!  When I was transferred to a regular room, the boy  I shared it with had been there 30 days and did not know when he was going to go home.  His mother said he was in and out of the hospital all of the time.  After my outpatient procedure failed, my dad was especially upset.  He went down to the car to get my things to take me home and got lost in the lobby.  He asked a man for directions and told him that he didn’t know his way around the hospital.  The man looked sadly at my dad and said, “I wish I didn’t know my way around here.  My 6 year old daughter has cancer and we are here way too often!”  My dad told him that he was sorry and he would keep them in his prayers.  It made him realize that even though what was happening was frightening —  I would get better!

That is why it’s so important to support Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.  They help so many kids and their families from all over.  Kids are depending on them to help them through some very difficult illnesses.  It’s scary and it helps for them to know that they are not alone.  People like you are appreciated because you make it possible for the hospital to treat patients who have no insurance because no one is ever turned away.  So thank you from the bottom of my healthy heart for your continued support of the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.   What you do is very, very important! AGAIN, I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU!!