After COVID-19 Delayed Surgery, 6-Year-Old Mitchell Porter Gets Green Light For His Procedure
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A little boy finally had the heart surgery he's waited months to get. COVID-19 put the procedure on hold as hospitals paused elective surgeries.
Since October, little Mitchell Porter has been stuck in a holding pattern.
"It's been a long road," his dad Josh Porter said.
"Yeah, it was originally scheduled for January then for April and now here we are in June," he added.
Born with a leaky heart valve, the now six-year-old was tiring easily and struggling to keep up with his siblings. First, it was a bad flu season, then COVID-19 that pushed back his surgery at Children's Minnesota.
Finally, on Thursday, a new page in his story, as a surgeon from Children's and another from Mayo Clinic met to successfully fix it.
"So the Mayo basically noted it as a second chance at childhood," Amy Porter, his mom, said.
Since elective surgeries were allowed to resume last month, Children's says it's caught up with 70 percent of those that were postponed.
RELATED: Boy Can't Get Heart Valve Repair Due To COVID-19 Elective Surgeries Delay
Still, there is a continued focus on precautions for patient safety and preserving medical supplies.
"Trying to explain something like that with everything going on in the world and then by the way you're going to have open heart surgery in the middle of all of this," Josh said.
"We will be on a pretty strict lockdown for six to eight weeks just to make sure," he added.
The Porters appreciate all the support they've received to make it this far.
As Mitchell eyes a new chapter now: losing his training wheels and being able to play hockey.
"You'll be able to run as fast as your brother. You might even beat him," Amy told her son.
Mitchell's parents told us his surgery was the best case scenario since they were able to do a valve repair and not a replacement. They'll know more about his condition in six months to a year as he continues regular check-ups
