         
© 2005 Texas
Children's Hospital |
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Swonke, 11, poses in front of Texas Children's Hospital days
before his first heart surgery.
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Swonke today, with a healthy heart.
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Physicians described Claude Swonke as a 'blue baby' when he was born, but
he left the hospital a few days later with a clean bill of health. At
age 3, Swonke was diagnosed with a heart murmur by the family doctor
and sent to see Dr. Dan McNamara, a pediatric cardiologist at Texas
Children’s, who discovered a congenital heart abnormality. After the
diagnosis, Swonke’ parents and McNamara decided to allow him to
grow and play as a normal child with close medical monitoring. Around
age 11, Swonke’s health started to decline.
“I was very tired,” Swonke said. “I couldn’t run more than 20 yards
without feeling tired and sick.”
It was 1957 and Swonke was 11 when his first heart surgery was
performed by Dr. Denton Cooley at Texas Children’s Hospital. Cooley
removed a growth in an artery of Swonke’s heart - unusual and serious
surgery for a child so young. Without the surgery Swonke’s life
expectancy was only 20 years.
“I remember the doctors telling us that I had a 50 / 50 chance of
surviving the surgery,” said Swonke.
Survive he did. Though he lost some weight after the surgery, Swonke
recovered well under the care of the Texas Children’s medical staff.
All he needed to gain some weight was a homemade chocolate pie, which
was the first thing he ate when he got home that spring after three
weeks in the hospital. By fall he was running with the other kids and
feeling like most other 11-year-old boys.
Twenty-five years later, Swonke and Cooley, president and
surgeon-in-chief, Texas Heart Institute, chief of Cardiovascular
Surgery at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, consultant in Cardiovascular
Surgery at Texas Children's Hospital and a clinical professor of
Surgery at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, were
destined to meet again. Swonke once again needed heart surgery, this
time to replace his aorta valve.
Swonke lives in Arizona, but he visits family in Houston every
year. He suffers from arthritis, but his heart is in good condition.
“I have Dr. Cooley and Texas Children’s Hospital to thank for that,”
said Swonke. “I hope to someday be able to give back to Texas
Children’s in appreciation for all it has done for me.”
To
read other stories about Texas Children's patients, visit
Kids Courageous.
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Claude | David
| Fernando | Julie
Marcos
| Michael | Terra
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