4-year-old boy can play with his toys thanks to UPMC Children's Hospital | 2024 Free Care Fund
The 71st Annual KDKA-TV Free Care Fund Telethon is this Thursday and all week, we're introducing you to some of the local children and families who are alive and thriving today thanks to UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Miller Shevitz of Beaver Falls is happiest when showing off his toys.
The 4-year-old really loves playing cars. His favorite track?
"My Rainbow Road," he said.
He watches as those cars speed out of the gates. But in the race of life, Miller's start wasn't the smoothest.
"We were just sick to our stomach, waiting to hear what the doctor had to say," Kelly Shevitz, his mother, said.
Miller's mom was 20 weeks pregnant when doctors told her after an ultrasound that her son had hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
"The left side of his heart does not function," Kelly said. "They just said you should feel fortunate that your son is able to survive. They can fix it now. Twenty years ago, they couldn't fix it."
After Miller was born, the work to fix it started.
"He's had three reconstructive surgeries, plus some other heart surgeries to make his right side of his heart do all the work," Kelly said.
"We finally got to bring him home for the first time when he was a little over 6 months old," Jake Shevitz, his father, said.
Miller had his last stage of reconstruction earlier this year. His parents say the surgeries have gone well. There have been minor complications though.
"He had a mini-stroke at one point from blood clots, even though they put him on all these thinners and stuff to stop that," Jake said. "He said some minor surgeries to fix some breathing problems and stomach issues."
Through it all, Kelly and Jake say the team at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh made it a second home.
"Miller was never a number," Kelly said. "He was never just another heart kid. He was their kid."
Miller likes them too.
"They are nice," he said.
Kelly and Jake say the doctors and staff were also really good at communicating.
"If we had questions, they stopped and took the time to explain every tiny detail about anything we wanted to know," Kelly said.
"Everything they do, they ask you if you're OK with this. If you want to help, if you want to learn how to do it," Jake said.
Someone who had to learn at a very young age? Miller's 6-year-old sister Marlowe.
"She didn't meet her brother until 6 months after he was born," Jake said.
That didn't stop Marlowe from wanting to take care of her little brother. And it isn't stopping the relationship they have now.
"It's really developed this bond between them that I think that if we had not involved her in his care, they wouldn't have today," Kelly said.
Today, Miller does so much more than just play with toys. He's come a long way.
"He loves to run around and wrestle with his dad, pretend to fight and be a superhero," Kelly said.
"Child life has really just been so important to bring in things to distract him and comfort him," she added.
The Shevitzs are hoping Miller's future comes with fewer bumps in the road. They're optimistic about Miller's future.
"Now he's where he's at now, which is a pretty typical little boy who just has a little more doctor's appointments than other kids," Jake said.
And where he's at now? It gives him a lot more time to play with toys.
Please join us from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 19, on KDKA-TV and donate to the Free Care Fund.
