chambers of the heart. This defect allows oxygen-rich blood to leak into the oxygen-poor blood chambers in the heart.
“Cat’s heart was like an eight-cylinder engine firing on four cylinders without knowing it,” Salazar said. “Cat was basically running a marathon seven days a week her whole life. What happened with her is that eventually her body was no longer able to compensate, and she started to exhibit heart failure.”
Salazar, who is now at the McGovern Medical School in Houston, said Oyler is a perfect example of the 1 in 150 adults living with “silent” heart defects. The good news is, that number is falling rapidly with newborn detection practices, he said.
Once Oyler was properly diagnosed, doctors hoped the hole in her heart could be closed through a minimally invasive procedure. But after sending a device to her heart through a vein in her leg, doctors discovered the hole was the size of a large egg – too big for this method. She would need traditional surgery.
In May 2017, Salazar performed her open-heart surgery, closing the
