Meet Ollie

Ollie is now a toddler, but his life so far has been filled with many ups and downs. After his mom’s routine pregnancy and delivery, the medical team in the delivery room detected something was seriously wrong within minutes of his birth. Ollie was transferred that day to St. Louis Children’s Hospital and once he arrived, Ollie’s family was told that he was one of the sickest babies in The St. Louis Children’s and Washington University Heart Center . At less than 12 hours old, his tiny body was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), allowing his heart and lungs to rest. Ollie was diagnosed with obstructed infracardiac total anomalous pulmonary venous return, a rare and critical heart defect. In addition, Ollie was also diagnosed with Down syndrome and coarctation of the aorta. He underwent his first open-heart surgery at just a few days old . Even through the hospital stays and routine cardiology appointment, Ollie has been a warrior through it all. Today, Ollie regularly visits St. Louis Children’s and continues to beat the odds stacked against him.