How Gratitude Helped AJ’s Family Navigate Tough Times
Gratitude is often recommended as a practice to help people cope with everyday stress, and we pay special attention to it during the holiday season. But for heart warrior AJ’s family, gratitude became something more on the day he was born. It’s now both the lifeline that carried them through a frightening chapter of their story and a way of life that guides their actions every day.
Sarah Jo and Tazz’s journey began at 37 weeks of pregnancy when a routine scan revealed that their baby had experienced a premature closure of the ductus arteriosus (PCDA) leading to right ventricular hypertrophy. In the womb, the ductus arteriosus is a small vessel that plays big role in fetal circulation. When it closes too early, the right side of the heart must work far harder than it should—sometimes with devastating consequences.
Fortunately, Sarah Jo had spent six years working alongside Dr. Kevin Maher, Director of Children’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, in medical device research and product development at Georgia Tech. She instinctively knew that the diagnosis was urgent, and she reached out to Dr. Maher for advice. That serendipitous connection to Children’s Heart Center set off a chain of events that would ultimately save AJ’s life. Specialists reviewed AJ’s fetal echo at Egleston, the team at Northside prepared for delivery, and Dr. Maher ensured a helicopter would be waiting. When AJ was born via C-section just days later, he was immediately flown to Egleston’s Cardiac ICU.
Within hours, the unimaginable happened. AJ went into cardiac arrest. He endured 26 minutes of chest compressions before being placed on ECMO—a life-saving support that would give his stressed right ventricle the rest it needed, and one that was not available at other area facilities.
What followed was a three-month hospital stay filled with uncertainty and challenge. But it was also filled with something else—a remarkable strength and resilience shown by a tiny newborn that inspired everyone around him. By the time he was discharged, AJ’s heart function, structure and neurological evaluations were on a positive track.
AJ’s family attributes this to more than medical expertise, though they had that in abundance. Sarah Jo said it was the people at Children’s including the physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers and chaplains, who made their experience extraordinary, by taking care not just of AJ, but the entire family.
“We had the best of the best in every area,” Sarah Jo said. “What happened to him is very uncommon, and outcomes are not one size fits all. They’re incredibly variable, and everyone at Children’s navigated his care amazingly well. Even though this is their job, it’s more than their job. They’re on our team as humans dealing with trauma.”
The personal care that Children’s showed to her family, especially during the holidays, stands out to Sarah Jo when she thinks back on that time. For example, on AJ’s first night in the CICU, while he lay supported by ECMO, a nurse gently painted the bottom of his tiny foot to make a turkey-themed keepsake for Thanksgiving. It was a small gesture that the family treasures to this day. The hospital’s weekly family meals also offered both nourishment and comfort. Volunteers brightened the holidays with decorations and gifts, including a walking reindeer AJ’s family still brings out every year.
“You never imagine yourself in this situation,” Sarah Jo said. “Online, you see so much tragedy. But inside those walls, we were overwhelmed by the good.”
Today, AJ is a thriving 3-year-old who roughhouses, zooms around on his scooter, plays outside with his siblings and wholeheartedly embraces every dinosaur, truck and messy adventure life has to offer him. Sarah Jo said he’s a big lover and generous with his hugs and kisses. His bond with his sister Joey, just 18 months older, is especially strong, and she knows exactly how to make him laugh.
This journey has reshaped Sarah Jo and Tazz’s perspective on parenting, as they discovered reserves of strength they never knew existed.
“People tell you, ‘I can’t imagine going through that.’ But when it’s your child, you don’t have a choice,” Sarah Jo said. “Your physical and emotional limits stretch far beyond what you think possible.”
And woven through it all is gratitude. Gratitude for the medical professionals who saved AJ’s life. Gratitude for the teams who communicated well, welcomed every question and stepped in when the family couldn’t see beyond the next hour. And gratitude for the small moments of kindness that lifted their spirits when that seemed impossible.
The experience also has changed how Sarah Jo approaches her work, where she collaborates closely with clinicians, researchers and innovators—many of the same people who were present during the hardest days of AJ’s life. Each project, advancement and conversation with her colleagues carries deeper meaning now.
“All I want to do is give back,” she said. “The people who dedicate their lives to this work are extraordinary. Sharing AJ’s victories with them feels like a way to honor what they do every day.”
AJ sees pediatric cardiologist Dr. Lazaros Kochilas at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Cardiology in Atlanta.
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