Emma Sparks, 8, Was Born With One Working Pumping Chamber in Her Heart and Had Her First Open-Heart Surgery at Five Days Old

Matt and Holly Sparks learned before their daughter was born that her heart had one fully working pumping chamber instead of two. Emma, now 8, had her first open-heart surgery at five days old, and she has had two more since. The Largo, Florida, family now runs a fishing tournament to help other heart families, and Emma does gymnastics and cheerleading, according to a Nov. 14 report from WFLA in Tampa, shared on Yahoo.

The report describes a congenital heart defect but does not name a specific diagnosis or the operations Emma has had, so the medical background below comes from children’s hospitals and federal health agencies rather than from her chart.

Three Open-Heart Surgeries Before Age 4

WFLA reported that Emma’s first open-heart surgery came at five days old. The second followed at five and a half months, and the third at three and a half years. Her parents knew about the defect before she was born.

She may need a fourth open-heart surgery as a teenager, the report said. Between those operations, the picture her parents paint is of a child who is busy and strong.

Gymnastics, Cheerleading and Not Slowing Down

Emma loves gymnastics and cheerleading, according to WFLA. Her mother, Holly Sparks, said Emma “doesn’t slow down” and is “still a normal child.”

Her father, Matt Sparks, told the station that Emma has fought hard through her surgeries and that the family feels blessed by how well she has done. The WFLA headline quotes his words: “God makes miracles.”

How Children’s Hospitals Describe Staged Heart Surgery

When a heart has only one pumping chamber that works well, children’s hospitals describe a plan of several operations rather than a single repair. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explains that staged reconstruction is a series of open-heart operations, usually spread over several years, that reroutes blood flow in steps. It lists a first stage within several days of birth, a second usually within six months, and a third at about 1 1/2 to 3 years of age. Children also need tests between stages and throughout childhood, the hospital says, and in rare cases a heart transplant may be recommended.

Riley Children’s Health in Indiana calls the same approach staged single ventricle reconstruction and says the most common condition treated this way is hypoplastic left heart syndrome. For that condition, Riley says, the first operation comes a few days after birth and babies usually go home in three to four weeks, often with new medicines and sometimes a feeding tube. The second comes within four to eight months, and the third between 18 months and 3 years. Riley runs a home monitoring program for babies between the first and second operations and reports that survival between those two surgeries rose from 82% to 95% since the program began in 2010.

Riley also tells parents that a child may look slightly blue after the first two surgeries, especially when crying, and to talk to the doctor if they are concerned. Its Parent Mentor Program connects new heart families with trained parents. CHOP says frequent surveillance in infancy and early childhood matters because it helps reduce risk factors before the third-stage operation.

The timing of Emma’s surgeries is close to the stages those hospitals describe, but WFLA did not say which procedures she had, so the match is only a general one.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital says the staged surgeries are done over the first several years of life, and that they cannot fix the heart and make it normal again. It tells families to ask their child’s cardiology team what later care may be needed.

Cast for Kids and $25,000 for the American Heart Association

The Sparks family started the Cast for Kids bass fishing tournament to help other families facing similar heart issues. Over the past six years, WFLA reported, the family has raised more than $25,000 for the American Heart Association.

The need is wide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heart defects affect nearly 1% of births in the United States, about 40,000 babies a year. About 1 in 4 of those babies has a critical defect that needs surgery or another procedure in the first year of life, the CDC says. Treatment depends on the type and severity of the defect, and some defects cannot be fully repaired, though procedures can still improve blood flow and heart function.

What Lifelong Care Looks Like

The American Heart Association describes single ventricle defects such as hypoplastic left heart syndrome as conditions that cannot be fully corrected, with treatment aimed at improving the heart’s function through a series of surgeries soon after birth. It says many adults with the condition live active, productive lives, but that the single-ventricle circulation can lead to problems such as irregular heartbeats and fluid buildup. Lifelong care from a cardiologist is needed, usually with at least yearly visits. Some people later need activity limits, careful pregnancy planning or procedures such as a pacemaker or valve repair, the association says, and some children are candidates for a heart transplant, which brings its own lifelong medication.

Parent Diaries has covered other families on this road, including 4-year-old Wyatt Keller, whose rare heart defect was found on a prenatal scan and whose repair Cleveland Clinic surgeons planned on a 3D-printed model.

The CDC adds that even a repaired heart may not be cured and that follow-up care is needed. WFLA’s report does not describe Emma’s follow-up schedule, only that she may face another open-heart operation as a teenager and that her family is putting its energy into helping other heart families in the meantime.

Get stories like this by email. Sign up for The Parent Diaries Letter.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Dguendel – CC BY 4.0/Wikimedia Commons