A Tale of Two Hearts: Families Share a Close Bond After Similar Hospital Experiences
By Lisa Pemberton, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.
Feb. 4–TACOMA — Misty Duncan was in a waiting room at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital when a woman began talking about her grandson, who had been born a few weeks earlier at Capital Medical Center in Olympia.
The baby was diagnosed with transposition of the great arteries, a rare congenital heart defect in which the two major vessels that carry blood from the heart are switched. The treatment: open heart surgery.
Duncan, 28, of Olympia, couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I was just like, ‘That’s my story,’ ” she said.
And that’s how two South Sound women — Duncan, and Angie Couch, 26, of Montesano — learned about each other. Their sons were born five days apart in August 2003 at the same hospital with the same rare heart defect.
Couch’s mom insisted that the two meet each other, but it didn’t work out, at first.
Both boys had “a million complications,” Duncan said.
Couch’s son, Arley, had a post-operative infection that required another surgery.
Duncan’s son went into cardiac arrest twice the night of his surgery. The doctors had to administer life-saving drugs and perform a heart massage, which led to a difficult recovery.
Both babies had reflux, feeding tubes and an assortment of other medical problems.
Neither Couch nor Duncan felt like socializing with other people: Their sons’ lives were at stake.
“They both had very complex heart disease,” said Kayla Harvey, a nurse practitioner at Mary Bridge’s Cardiothoracic Surgery office. “They both had complicated surgeries. Miracles happened, I would say.”
One day, when the babies were about a month old, Couch made paper mobiles and nameplates for their cribs.
The gesture led to a conversation, and lunch in the hospital cafeteria.
Their friendship was instantly strong.
“It’s always nice to have someone to lean on,” Couch said. “When I’m upset and I hear her voice, I immediately start crying.”
“I would have been crazy if she hadn’t been up here,” Duncan added. “A lot of the things Dale was going through, Arley had just gone through.”
Both boys were at Mary Bridge for nearly three months.
Their dads were at home taking care of their older sisters. Their moms stayed in the hospital’s parent apartments and helped each other get through the entire ordeal.
Couch and Duncan talk every day on the phone, and they get the boys together at least four or five times a month for play dates.
The women say they don’t take a minute of the boys’ lives for granted.
Arley and Dale each have a baby sister now. And they still receive follow-up care at Mary Bridge Children’s Health Center. Their mothers try to coordinate their visits.
“They both really look forward to going to the doctor’s office,” Couch said. “To them, these people are their friends.”
Last week, the moms delivered homemade DVDs with slide shows of the boys’ pictures to several of the doctors and nurses who cared for their children. They named the DVD “A Tale of Two Hearts.”
The gift brought tears to intensive care nurse Julie Winger’s eyes. She said she’ll always remember how close the families became during their stay in the hospital.
She smiled as the boys doled out high-fives and hugs to the other intensive care staff members.
“It’s always nice to see them come back running around and being healthy, normal kids,” Winger said.
Arley and Dale are due for follow-up surgeries later this year. Their moms hope the doctors will perform the surgeries around the same time.
They plan to take care of each others’ children, and each other, too.
Lisa Pemberton writes for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-704-6871 or lpemberton@theolympian.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.
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