During his 101-day stay at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Liam had two loyal companions that never left his side: Bear and Lamby. Now, these worn-out loveys transform into “patients” when Liam plays with his toy doctor kit.
Before birth, a scan showed Liam had hypoplastic right heart syndrome with pulmonary atresia, a rare and complex congenital heart condition. Because the right side of his heart didn’t form properly, he was missing a functioning pulmonary valve.
Liam was 8 days old when Bryan Goldstein, MD, a pediatric interventional cardiologist, inserted a stent to provide vital blood flow to his lungs. After a brief time on the heart transplant list, Liam stabilized enough to go home at 3.5 months. But he still needed multiple open heart surgeries to create a route for blood to flow around his heart’s poorly functioning right side. At 6 months, Liam returned to UPMC Children’s for the Glenn procedure. It was performed by pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Victor Morell, MD. Two years later in June 2025, Dr. Morell performed the final step: the Fontan procedure.
Before that last surgery, Liam could barely walk across the playground without huffing and puffing. Now the happy, active 3-year-old enjoys walks and climbs the playground slide on his own.