2-year-old Skylar has four heart defects, and her parents are looking for ideas

SURRY COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) - Christy Lawson was 20-weeks pregnant with her first baby, Skylar Rae Lawson, when she and her husband were told their little girl had issues with her heart.

“At 28 weeks pregnant, we learned what those issues were,” her dad, Justin, said from their home in Mount Airy. “She had ‘Tetrology of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia.’ It basically means she had four heart defects, on top of not having a pulmonary artery. She was born weighing 3 pounds, 8 ounces, and we spent six weeks at Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem.”

“At five months old, Skylar’s oxygen started decreasing,” Justin continued. “We knew it was time to look at open heart surgery. At seven months old, she had that surgery at Levine Children’s, to establish a proper connection from her heart to her lungs.”

Eight hours after that surgery, her parents learned the surgeon wasn’t able to do a full repair on that connection, and instead placed a conduit in Skylar to help get better oxygen to her lungs.

The problem is that now at two years old, Skylar is slowly outgrowing the conduit. Because of that, her dad said she’ll need a second open heart surgery.

“Our daughter has many complexities in her anatomy,” Justin said. “That’s causing issues as to whether she may be a candidate for a full repair surgery. If she doesn’t get one, chances are it’ll hinder her quality of life.”

As parents ready to do anything to help, Justin and Christy are reaching out to Stanford—home of the leading expert in cases like Skylar—to get a second opinion on their daughter’s complex heart condition.

“This is a big step for us,” they said. “But we ultimately want to do our best for Skylar and give her the best quality of life possible. Stanford is 30-hours from us, so even reaching out to their experts is a big step, but we have to try. She’s our baby girl. We have to try something.”

You never know where #MollysKids stories can go and who knows what about the illness a local child is facing, but if any of you have any specific suggestions, I’m sure Jason and Christy will read all comments you guys post below.

And, this picture? It’s cute, right? It’s also highly meaningful.

Those beads Skylar is holding are called heart beads. Each one is a milestone Skylar reached while in the PICU after her heart surgery.

Welcome, Skylar, to #MollysKids.

Also, a little birdie said you’re going to be a big sister soon…that your mom is having a baby boy. Congratulations to you, Christy, and your entire growing family.

More photos below.

- Molly