By Lauren Wanko
Correspondent
Two-year-old Omari Anderson is playing doctor. It’s something he knows a thing or two about because of his time in the hospital. The Union Township toddler was born with a congenital heart defect.
“He is my little fighter, that’s what I used to call him. He is my hero because he went through so much so early I couldn’t even imagine and he took it all in stride,” said mom Tanisha Anderson.
Omari was born premature. Tanisha says doctors discovered he had an open tube, often called a PDA, in his heart when the infant was about 3 weeks old.
“He has a condition called patent ductus arteriosus, which is a tube all of us have before birth. It connects the main lung artery with the aorta. It’s supposed to close or spontaneously close after birth. Now, children who are born premature, it tends not to close. With Omari, it didn’t close and also it was large so it was causing too much blood to go into his lungs,” said Dr. Rajiv Verma, director of the Children’s Heart Center, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health.
Nationwide at least 40,000 babies are born each year with congenital heart defects. CHDs are the most common birth defects in the world, according to the American Heart Association. In New Jersey, the state Department of Health indicates from 2009 to 2013 there were 6,269 congenital heart defects reported in the state.
The doctor says 25 percent to 30 percent of his patients born with congenital heart defects will need to be treated and monitored throughout their lives, but a majority of the children he sees will need little or no treatment and that’s because the abnormalities or holes in their heart don’t affect the function of the heart or the child’s growth.
Initially, Omari had difficulty breathing and eating. Medication wasn’t effective. Dr. Verma performed a transcatheter procedure when the baby was about 2 months old. Very fine, long tubes were inserted from the groin area into the heart. The doctors closed the PDA by inserting a device in Omari’s heart.
“It’s actually a vascular plug which is deployed in his PDA, completely closing it and his own natural tissue which is on the inside of the heart, covers it permanently,” Dr. Verma said.
Although thousands of kids are born with heart defects each year, Dr. Verma says more and more kids are acquiring heart conditions because of poor lifestyle choices like lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet which could lead to obesity. That in turn could lead to issues like high blood pressure or early onset diabetes, and that can ultimately affect the heart.
Omari’s mom is determined to ensure her baby leads a healthy lifestyle. About 2 years later, it’s hard to believe this energetic little boy went through so much.
“When Dr. Verma told me, ‘Mom he has no more restrictions, he can do whatever he wants,’ I cried that day. I really did cry,” Tanisha said.
Omari doesn’t need any other surgical procedures, says Dr. Verma. And he’s not due for his next check-up for another three to four years.