When Connor Tavarone was born 14 years ago at Bassett Hospital, his parents were given the usual advice. Let us know if he sleeps too much, or if he won’t eat.
At first he was fine, but those very symptoms appeared after four or five days.
When mom Kelly and dad Rich took him back to
CONNOR/From A1
Bassett, it was discovered that baby Connor was suffering from truncus arteriosis: Instead of two main blood vessels leaving the heart – the aorta carry blood to the body and the pulmonary artery taking blood to the lungs – he had only one large blood vessel leaving the heart.
The baby was soon in Albany Medical Center, then sent on to Boston Children’s Hospital, where a surgeon installed a graft separating the pulmonary artery from the main trunk.
He was eight days old.
It was an anxious time, but it emphasized the importance of medical research to the whole family, including grandmom Nancy Garrison, who said in an interview the other day, “If it had happened 20 or 30 years ago, he might not be here.”
As it was, advanced medical practices allowed Connor to grow into a healthy young man. Within six months he was hale and hearty.
Now an eighth–grader at Oneonta Middle School, he plays baseball and basketball and, not only is he full energy, he’s polite, Mrs. Garrison avers.
“When he was 5, he and Tyler (his older brother) were already holding the door for me. And they still do,” said the former secretary at SUNY Oneonta and U.S. Sen. Patrick Moynihan’s local Office; she still works parttime at Elm Park Methodist Church.
As a result of their experience, however, the family the following September drove up to Albany en masse for America’s Greatest Heart Run & Walk, joining 1,000 people at the annual fundraiser.
They did it for several years, with Nancy’s sister, Anne Lyman of Loudonville and her husband. Ed, joining them.
For me past half-dozen years, they been able to do so at home, as they will Saturday. March 26, at SUNY Oneonta Dewar Arena.
Nancy Garrison is a believer in such events, even though this year, slowed by rheumatoid arthritis, her sister Sally Gage will be walking for her.
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| Nancy Garrison shows off a photo of her grandson, Connor Tavarone, healthy today thanks to heart-disease research. |
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