CONNOR

Connor was born in March of 2012. Ten weeks prior — at the 30-week ultrasound — we were told there was an irregularity of some sort on the heart wall. The explanation was vague. It might be nothing, or it might be <insert a bunch of big words we had never heard before>.
Tuberous sclerosis complex was mentioned as a possible cause, but it was such a vague maybe that we dismissed it when we Googled the stats. One in 6,000 live births. Well, it couldn’t be that. I was monitored carefully until Connor was born, but whatever was in his heart never grew or affected the heart function. Everything seemed normal until a few hours after delivery. That was when a nurse in the nursery realized he was having seizures. The next 37 days were spent in the NICU. The seemingly benign heart abnormality was confirmed as…