News : Love for Liv: Vinton girl continues to help others with heart defects

Olivia Spencer and her family keep fighting her heart defect and keep helping the AHA.

A few weeks ago, Kendra Spencer received a call she has feared since her daughter, Olivia, was born.

Now, age 8, Olivia began to turn blue at school. Her family rushed to pick her up at Central Lutheran and then to UIHC in Iowa City.

“Her oxygen saturations were at 82%,” Kendra recalls. “Hers are always lower anyhow, but this is lower than the doctors like.”

Olivia was born with a rare and severe congenital heart defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Simply put, this means she was born with only half a heart. Olivia, often called “Liv,” has survived several surgeries and frequent hospitalizations, as doctors help her manage her condition as well as consider ways to help her heart adjust as she grows.

The medical professionals believe the low O2 incident was caused by a virus as well as her daily heart issues. She quickly recovered, although doctors have scheduled a catheterization for March 3.

Kendra has become quite knowledgeable of the language of heart procedures and conditions after all these years.

"They're going inside the heart to check the pressures, she explains. "If they're too low, this could be causing the low oxygen saturations. They will close the fenestration in The Fontan (basically a pop-off valve in case the pressures of her heart were too high). Leaving this open does cause risk for another stroke and low saturations, but not having it would could put Liv in danger of developing Chylothorax, which is a build up of fluid from the thoracic duct that pools into the chest cavity. Olivia is at risk for this also and was in the hospital for two months with Cylothorax back in 2008."

A few days after returning home from her latest trip to the cardiac unit, Liv broke her mother’s heart with a prediction about her health.

“Mama, I know my heart is going to give out some day,” she said.

“That took my breath away,” says Kendra. “How does she know this? I knew this day would come, but I thought it would be several years down the road. The older she gets, the harder this gets.”

For that reason, says Kendra, she does all she can to help the American Heart Association help families like hers.

“That's why we are such advocates for the American Heart Association. We are trying to fund research to hopefully make the same leap in medical advances in the next 30 years as we did in the past 30 years,” says Kendra. “We need to find a way to extend the life of these children and adults living with congenital heart disease. We need to find a cure for these babies born with only a slim chance of survival and being whisked away to surgery before they can even be whisked away into their mother's arms.”

Kendra, the owner of Kendra Lee Photography is holding a series of photo sessions, with half of the proceeds going to the AHA.

“The photo shoot has been extended from the original date of Feb 6th to Feb 7th as well,” says Kendra. “All dates on Feb 6th are full. However, we have 5 dates left on Feb 7th.”

There will be three portrait areas set up at The Historic Ray House and each participating family will have a chance to use all of those areas during their session.

As she has done countless times through this eight-year journey, Kendra offers a word of thanks to friends, family and the community for helping her family and the AHA. “

“Liv feels pretty special having our community support her and the American Heart Association,” Kendra says.

To schedule a photo shoot, contact Kendra via email at klm479@gmail.com