Barrett Rabe's Boston Heart Surgery Fundraiser

Chris and Jennifer Rabe were expecting a sweet baby boy in he fall of 2012. At 26 weeks pregnant, their lives would be forever changed. Devastating to their hearts and ears, they found out that their son had a severe heart condition of Aortic Stenosis and that could lead to Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome - HLHS (only ½ of a functioning heart). They were told by the specialist and medical professionals that their best option may be to terminate. They claimed that it was very risky and costly to parents as their unborn son would have to face multiple open heart surgeries and many parents do not continue pregnancy. Chris and Jenn decidedto not give up.


They decided to meet with another specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado. This was a pivotal point, as this was when they found out that their son was a perfect candidate to have fetal intervention. This surgery was going to be performed in Boston, Massachusetts. They moved forward with this procedures in which they ballooned opened his Aortic valve in hopes of slowing down the progression of HLHS. They decided to name their unborn son, Barrett Matthew Rabe (“Barrett” derived from the Old German name Beroald meaning bear power. Brave as a bear.) Barrett was delivered by a team of doctors on September 20th, 2012 at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He had his first open heart surgery at just under two weeks old.


It was a rough six weeks in the hospital. New parents, an open heart surgery, many medical procedures, several medications, lots of monitoring of vitals signs and numbers, striving to get him to continue to eat - this was an unordinary new parenting experience. Months later, Barrett was now potentially a candidate for the Biventricular repair (a whole heart). So many tears of emotion and hope filled Chris & Jenn as their son’s whole heart potentially would all be saved. This would mean a more fruitful and “normal” life for Barrett. At seven months old, in the spring of 2013, Barrett had his second open heart surgery in Boston. Currently, Barrett is still (praying hopefully) a candidate for the last final Biventricular repair at two years, in the summer of 2015.Today, Barrett is on seven medications to keep his heart and body functioning normally, along with occasional oxygen, monitoring his saturations of oxygen & heart rate, multiple doctor visits every month, physical therapy visits, and home nurse visits. Barrett has continued to strive after his fetal intervention, three heart catherizations, and two open heart surgeries. Jenn and Chris are anticipating his next open heart surgery in the summer of 2015. <3



With an abundance of love, faith, hope, and support from family and friends, Chris and Jenn strongly believe in raising awareness for the path that they took an continue to take for Barrett Matthew.