Giving Forward

“Something is wrong with your son’s heart. We are bringing in a cardiologist.” 

Nothing prepares you for the doctor’s words as they whisk your newborn to the ICU for monitoring and further tests. 

Little did I know, my firstborn child, Broderick (Brody), had a congenital heart defect that required two corrective open-heart surgeries before he was two years old and three catheterization procedures.  After his surgery at two, he didn't require any intervention until this summer, June 2018, when Brody had to have a third corrective open heart surgery. Although we are optimistic that will be the last one he needs, we really never know with his special heart. He will be followed by a cardiologist for his lifetime.

At this time of his birth, I was 10 years into my executive search position within the medical device industry. I knew enough about the way the heart works to know that open-heart surgery is terrifying, and at best case, riddled with risk. Hell, the entire stent market we helped to build was based on alternatives to open-heart procedures. My husband and I worked through the emotions and did our best to love and care for our baby as we listened to doctors and determined a plan.

The plan involved Miami Children’s Hospital, now Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, in Miami, FL. I checked myself out two days after a cesarean birth to be down with my son that had been transported by ambulance ahead of me. We were handed over to the care of the doctors and nurses, and treated with gentleness and empathy as if we were family of their own.

Fast forward, 12 years later.  Broderick has been an active, healthy, terrific kid with the determination unlike anyone I have ever seen. Nothing stops him from locking on what he wants to accomplish and driving to success.  We went on to have a second son, healthy and happy, and the two of them are the sunshine in our lives.

Remaining focused in the medical device industry has allowed me to stay close to innovation in cardiology. Pediatrics is not typically the focus for medical companies based on market size or risk, but the ones who are in the space are truly making a difference. Kids with congenital heart defects are now leading long, healthy lives, thanks to companies like Medtronic, and startups to watch like Xeltis, which are creating devices that can limit the need for multiple surgeries over a lifetime. There is no lack of innovation, nor a lack of hope. 

Over the twenty years, I have placed hundreds of individuals in the cardiology field. Lucky me, that gave me a number of friends who were solid sounding boards on my son’s condition. 

Our recent support at Nicklaus Children's Hospital through The Mullings Foundation will allow for continued education in the cardiology nursing program, as well as sponsor some really great “Cardiac Grad” shirts for the kids when they are discharged. I cannot imagine a day working in a different industry, or a time where I will not continue to put Nicklaus Children’s Hospital at the top of my list of places to “give back”. I am grateful that my life path has involved a partner like, Joe Mullings, that has supported me and my family every step of the way.