Heart hero: Former patient reunites with beloved surgeon

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

Talk about feeling grateful. Chris Kidwell introduced his son, Carter, to his hero just days before Thanksgiving in the lobby of Simon Family Tower at Riley Hospital for Children.

The reunion between Kidwell and renowned heart surgeon Dr. John Brown came a quarter-century after Dr. Brown last operated on Kidwell when the southern Indiana resident was just a couple of years older than his own son is today.

But his first open-heart surgery with Dr. Brown was as an infant after he was diagnosed with transposition of the great arteries. That was in 1987.

“Chris was the seventh arterial switch patient we did at Riley,” Dr. Brown said. “We started doing them in 1986 – we did three that year – and we did 10 in 1987. The arterial switch is probably the most difficult of operations on newborns, but Chris did very well. It’s a big operation, and we’re doing it on the tiniest of patients,” he said.

Patients typically weigh from 4½ pounds to 7½ pounds.

“It’s lifesaving,” he said. “They don’t survive if you don’t fix the problem.”

During the procedure, a surgeon moves the aorta and pulmonary arteries to their proper positions in the heart, allowing blood to flow to the right places and improving oxygen levels.

He estimates surgeons have performed close to 450 of the procedures at Riley in the past 38 years. In fact, Dr. Brown, who semi-retired in 2020, assisted Dr. Mark Rodefeld with just such a surgery earlier this year.

Reuniting with former patients is always a pleasure, the surgeon said. “It means a lot. It’s been a good day when you’ve helped another human being survive or do well.”

If he had it to do over again, Dr. Brown, who will turn 80 in February, said he would pick the same profession.

“It can be stressful; there’s a lot on the line every day. You’re taking a risk with a life every day that you’re in the operating room, but your training and the team you work with help you pull it off,” he said.

That team includes the nurses, anesthesiologists and cardiologists, he said. “There’s a whole lot of people who make it possible for these guys to survive.”

Kidwell, whose son also underwent a heart procedure earlier this year, peppered Dr. Brown with questions during their meeting last week.

“One thing I remember from that day (his second surgery at age 11) is reading a Dr. Seuss book to my little sister,” he told the surgeon. “And then you came out and said, ‘I’m Dr. Brown, and I did your first surgery. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the hardest, this is like a 4, so you have nothing to worry about.’ I always remember that,” Kidwell said.

And for the most part, that’s been true. Kidwell has been able to live a pretty normal life, thanks to the lifesaving care he received at Riley.

“I took a look at your last echo from 2021,” Dr. Brown told his former patient. “It looks perfect.”

The 37-year-old Kidwell said he takes good care of his heart and will see to it that his son does as well.

Photos by Mike Dickbernd, IU Health visual journalist, mdickbernd@iuhealth.org