儿童时期的心脏病患者, he's now a resident caring for heart patients

Lynn Otaguro和Mark Lum生下孩子一个月后, Matt, 从医院回家, 他们注意到他在母乳喂养后变得烦躁和疲惫.

Matt wasn't gaining enough weight or growing like other babies his age. At his first checkup, the pediatrician thought Matt may have a heart murmur. 医生安排了一次超声心动图检查. Results revealed Matt was born with a ventricular septal defect, or a hole in his tiny heart.

Doctors told the couple that eventually their son would need to have surgery to close the hole. The Honolulu couple suspected this would come years later when Matt was older and stronger.

A few months later, Matt was still struggling when he breastfed and was underweight. Doctors inserted a catheter into his heart to take a closer look and decided surgery couldn't wait.

Hawaii's health care system at the time wasn't equipped for the surgery Matt needed. 所以当马特八个半月大的时候, the family – including Mark's parents – flew to Los Angeles for treatment. On the plane, Lynn worried Matt would catch a virus and the surgery would be postponed. 她和丈夫也知道手术有风险.

"Having a child with a serious health condition can seem overwhelming," Lynn said. "We took things step by step and tried our best to stay positive and calm during the process for Matthew, 我们的女儿和我们的家庭."

他们住在马克的妹妹苏珊和她的家人那里. 马克的父母照顾他们两岁的女儿, Katherine, 这对夫妇准备去医院. Susan's friends donated blood and platelets to the blood bank for Matt.

手术前一天晚上，这对夫妇把马特留在了医院. The next day, they sat nervously in the waiting room as the surgeon closed the hole. 手术很成功. 三天后医生就让马特出院了.

小时候，马特每隔几年就会去看一次心脏病专家. 常规心电图和超声检查显示他的心脏工作正常.

有一些挑战. Although he ran cross country at school and hiked with his Boy Scout troop, 体育活动使他疲惫不堪.

"We tried to help Matthew see his health condition as something that needed to be addressed, 但不应该让他的生活蒙上阴影," Lynn said.

马特对此表示赞赏.

“他们从来不想让我觉得自己更弱或更弱，”马特说. "They wanted me to be strong and have the sense I could do anything anyone else could do."

马特定期去看医生，同时还要照看他的父亲, 初级保健医生, 照顾自己的病人, 让他选择了医学作为职业.

"I thought it would be extremely meaningful to care for patients like myself," Matt said.

Now 27, he's a second-year resident at UCLA Health in Los Angeles in anesthesiology. He likes the idea of working in the operating room with patients and seeing science at work in the moment. 他在考虑从事心脏或儿科麻醉学.

His own health is never far from his mind either, as a recent scare reminded him.

On a trip home to Hawaii, Matt's heart rate jumped to 230 beats per minute during a jog with his dad. 回到加州, 医生诊断他患有房室折返性心动过速, 或者是心跳异常加快.

在加州大学, San Francisco – where Matt went to medical school – he underwent an ablation procedure, during which a small amount of heart tissue causing abnormal rhythms was destroyed.

除了他的新贵事业, 马特是美国心脏协会的志愿者, telling his story to first- and second-generation Chinese high school students. He included a presentation on blood pressure so students could help screen their aging parents or grandparents for hypertension.

He knows many people with his condition end up needing multiple surgeries. 他很庆幸自己现在情况稳定，可以帮助像他这样的病人.

"I recognize I was lucky," Matt said, "and now I'm very invested in heart health."

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.

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