Father and son bond over heart conditions

By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org

Chris Kidwell was a baby when he had his first open-heart surgery – under the skilled hands of the renowned Dr. John Brown – at Riley Hospital for Children.

He was 11 when Dr. Brown operated on him a second time.

Diagnosed with D-transposition of the great arteries when he was born in Bedford, Indiana, on Good Friday 1987, Kidwell was rushed to Riley for an arterial switch surgery at just 6 days old.

During the relatively rare procedure, a surgeon moves the aorta and pulmonary arteries to their proper positions in the heart, allowing blood to flow to the right places, which improves oxygen levels and helps the heart function better.

Kidwell, now 37 and living in Orleans, Indiana, says he has lived a relatively normal life, despite the surgeries. He hiked a 13,000-foot mountain in Colorado last summer. He became active in martial arts and taught jujitsu for many years, always surprising people when they learned he had endured two open-heart surgeries, yet he could dominate on the mat.

He turned that passion into a doctoral degree, focusing on developing organizational leaders through the concepts of martial arts principles.

His own Riley story took on an added layer earlier this year when his son, Carter, 9, was diagnosed with an atrial septal defect that required a repair at Riley in March.

Carter had always had a heart murmur, but it wasn’t until his cardiologist in Bloomington ordered an echocardiogram that they realized how serious it was.

Fortunately, doctors were able to correct the defect without opening Carter’s chest like his father had experienced.

“Although I hated hearing that he would need to experience something that I did as a child, I am grateful that the skilled physicians at Riley were able to prevent the failure of his heart due to this defect,” Kidwell said.

He remembers the days and nights leading up to the procedure when he would try to calm his son’s fears by playing a song from the 1990s that soothed him when he was a child.

“Lullaby,” performed by Shawn Mullins, with the chorus “Everything is gonna be all right,” is what both father and son replayed on the radio and in their heads as they faced their fears.

There was never a doubt that Riley was the right place for Carter to receive care, Kidwell said.

“I told him, ‘Riley took care of me, and they’ll take care of you.’ I’m alive today and that speaks for itself.”

Carter, a third-grader, is fine now, Kidwell said, and the two are even closer than they were.

They are heart buddies, or “cardiac compadres,” Kidwell likes to say.

“Carter is my shadow. Anything I want to do, he is all about it.”

Whether playing video games, squirrel hunting, kayaking or kickboxing, the two share a bond beyond father and son, and now that Carter is recovered and doing well, Kidwell is grateful for all of it.

He follows up with his cardiology team at Riley, primarily because he said other cardiologists who haven’t dealt with pediatric heart patients don’t have the same understanding of his congenital condition.

Kidwell learned more about his surgeries by studying his medical records when he was in his 20s. He had wanted to join the military, a path he was not able to take because of his heart history.

After learning how involved the surgeries were, he wrote a “thank-you-for-saving-my-life” note to Dr. Brown, who responded with a note of his own, encouraging Kidwell to continue taking care of himself. Kidwell has kept that note for well over a decade.

The last time he was at Riley, he received a good report, he said.

“They said my heart looks remarkable, so I guess I’m doing something right. I take care of myself and my heart.”