SSM Health Matters Blog

“Throughout all his procedures and surgeries, the Cardinal Glennon team as a whole has been and continues to be invested in making sure Charlie has the best care,” Jean says.

Charlie was born with a variant of HLHS, a congenital heart defect where there is only one pumping chamber instead of two. Blood flow to the body is limited without medication after birth, and ultimately the defect requires a series of cardiac surgeries.

“When we were first diagnosed, it felt like everything was completely unknown, we didn’t know anyone who had been there, we didn’t even know what hypoplastic left heart syndrome was,” Jean Garcia recalls.