Name: Noah & Daniel Stretch (with sister Elizabeth)
AGES: 4 and 3

Listen to their story:

Diagnosis: Heart Condition

The Stretch Family has adopted 3 children from China.  After adopting their daughter; they found Noah and then Daniel, two special needs children who were living in orphanages in China.  The adoption organization called them “Special Deliveries”, and their mother, Joli agrees that they are very special boys, or as she calls them, “miracles.”

Noah came to Wolfson Children’s Hospital, and at the young age of 2 years old, he had open heart surgery, a procedure that took over 9 hours.  Noah has had 9 visits to Wolfson Children’s Hospital, plus outpatient procedures, totaling 14 nights that he has spent within Wolfson.  Of those 9 visits, 7 were for surgical procedures.   Now, at 4 years old, Noah just underwent yet another surgery. 

The average heart beats 100 times per minute, Noah’s heart beats an average of 60 times a minute, with that number dropping to below 30 while he sleeps.  Because of that, he recently went back to Wolfson Children’s Hospital to receive a pacemaker.  Anyone that knows Noah would never know all that he has been through – he is an active little boy who, like any boy his age, loves to ride his tricycle and play outside.

The Stretch family was informed that Daniel would have both heart and urological problems upon his arrival to Georgia.  When he arrived, the Stretches were elated to learn that Daniel’s heart problems were corrected in China, and he would suffer no long term problems.  Unfortunately, that has not kept him from having to visit Wolfson Children’s Hospital.  The Stretch family has had Daniel for 8 months, and in those few months, he has made 4 visits to Wolfson Children’s Hospital.  Two of those visits were for testing procedures, and the other two were for surgeries.  Daniel is now 3 years old and has a bright future ahead of him.