The Whiteheads, from Nashville, traveled to Houston seeking life-saving care for their baby boy, Laken, who was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) during pregnancy. He was very sick in Nashville, and the Whiteheads were encouraged to turn off his life support. But they refused that fate and reached out to Texas Children’s Hospital. TCH accepted him for a heart transplant, which was successfully performed.
His mom describes the moment she sought a second opinion. “I put my hand up to Laken’s hand, he was really asleep, and he latched onto my finger, and just grabbed it. There’s just no way that I could just pull the plug, and they told me that I was only doing more harm than good if I continued. In my bones, I just didn’t believe that,” says Laken’s loving mom, Whitney Whitehead. She goes on to say, “Second opinions save lives.”
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