‘Heart Warrior’ Graham doing well

By: 
Jason Ferguson
You’ll have to forgive Kylie Herman if she gets emotional talking about her son; the little guy has been through a lot in his first month and a half of life.
Graham Herman, whose father is 2015 Custer High School graduate Shane Herman, was born with  congenital heart disease, in which babies are born with one or more abnormalities in the heart’s structure. One of the more common birth defects, it alters the way blood flows through the heart. Defects range from simple, which might cause no problems, to complex, which can cause life-threatening complications.
To visualize Graham’s birth defect, picture the circuit of blood flowing from the heart to the lungs out of one ventrical and to the rest of the body from another ventrical. While the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood should form a figure eight coming and going from the heart, Graham’s arteries were switched, forming two closed circles. That kept blood from getting to where it needed to go.
That’s why when Kylie got to really hold the couple’s first child four days after he was born, she was over the moon.
“To be able to pick him up and not have to ask anyone was a dream come true,” said Kylie through tears of joy.
Shane and Kylie met in  class while attending the University of Sioux Falls their freshman year. They eventually married and moved to Fargo, N.D., where Shane, a biology major, is a client relations manager for Aldevron, a biotech company. Kylie, a 2015 graduate of Belle Fourche High School, is a registered nurse at Sanford Health.
The couple didn’t learn about Graham’s issue until Kylie went in for her 20-week anatomy scan. The tech giving her the scan said she needed to talk things over with a radiologist about the scan. That was the Hermans’ first inkling that something was wrong.
The two eventually told the Hermans they would have to come back, as they could not see the baby’s kidneys because of the position he was in. The Hermans know now that was their way of avoiding telling the Hermans about the issue that day. The next day the obstetrician told them they had found a heart defect.
“It was kind of devastating at first,” Shane said of hearing the news. “We had a lot of questions. It was nerve-wracking to hear.”
The doctor quickly reassured the Hermans the defect was completely correctable — though not cureable — through surgery. The doctor’s confidence put the Hermans at ease —somewhat.
Kylie said a couple of times Graham was growing slowly, but he eventually caught up to the normal percentile. Other than that, she said, her pregnancy was normal. While it’s common for people who have a heart defect to pass those genetics down to children, congenital heart disease can be completely random. Shane said about one in 2,500 babies are born with the defect Graham was afflicted with.
When it came time for Graham to make his big arrival Jan. 14, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and cardiologist were in the room for the delivery. When he was born, Graham was “very purple” and doctors immediately tried to insert a breathing tube. When that didn’t take, they whisked him away to the NICU.
Graham was placed on his mother’s chest for only a couple of seconds.
The Hermans desperately wanted to hold their new son, but were prepared that it might not happen right away.
“Definitely not ideal,” Kylie said.
Graham underwent a Balloon Atrial Septostomy in which a cardiologist uses a balloon catheter to widen congenital heart defects to  restore necessary blood flow. That stabilized Graham and corrective surgery was scheduled for a week later.
Kylie gave birth at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. The Hermans traveled to Minneapolis four weeks in advance for precare and in case Graham arrived early. Several fetal echocardiograms were performed to see if Graham would require the septostomy. When he was born, his oxygen level was only 40 percent and his heart rate was dropping rapidly. The procedure escalated into an emergency.
Perhaps the hardest part was a week later when Graham went to have his arterial switch surgery. The couple had to watch their son head to surgery, scared, but hopeful in the outcome. The surgery was declared a success, but soon after Graham experienced an abnormal heart rhythm, atrial flutter, which was exacerbated when he cried. Doctors worked to normalize his rhythm and eventually did so. By Jan. 24, Graham was having tubes removed (including his breathing tube) and was taken off medications. It seems he was as ready to go home, as his parents were.
Although NICU nurses were willing to let Kyle and Shane do Mommy and Daddy things such as diaper changes, it wasn’t ideal because of all the wires and tubes attached to Graham. However, about four days before he was discharged, the couple could start to hold him when they wanted to, cuddle him and change his diaper.
“It was a great feeling,” Shane said.
Graham’s progress was nothing short of amazing. After leaving NICU, he graduated from cardiac ICU quickly as well. Sixteen days after he was born, Graham was able to leave the hospital with his parents. He beat the expected timeline by two weeks.
Now at home with Mommy and Daddy, Shane reports that Graham is doing great and doing normal newborn things. He eats a lot, sleeps a lot and poops a lot. He’s even putting on weight.
“The fat baby rolls are coming in,” Shane said with a laugh. “It’s great to see him doing so well.”
The couple is settling into normalcy, as well. It was initially nerve-wracking for the couple to have Graham at home without heart monitors, and they would “freak out a little” when he cried or got worked up. Those feelings have subsided, and they are diving into the parental life full of joy.
“It’s definitely been an adjustment,” Kylie said. “We get less sleep, but it’s been a lot of fun. In the time he’s been home, he has changed so much.”
The Hermans say the support they received before and after Graham’s birth has been overwhelming — in a good way.
It started with the couple’s employers, who were understanding, supportive and worked with them for time off to deal with Graham’s needs. It continued with the arrival of grandmas and grandpas on both sides of the family to support the new parents (Shane is the son of Corbin and Terri Herman of Custer) and went further with well wishes, prayers, meals and other forms of support from North Dakota, Minnesota and their respective hometowns of Custer and Belle Fourche.
“I’ve been gone from Custer for four or five years, but to see the community rally behind you and ask my parents about Graham, to know they are praying and thinking about us, it really means a lot,” Shane said. “It was a similar situation in Belle Fourche. We certainly felt all the support.”
A Hampton Inn in Minneapolis donated a room at a reduced rate for the couple and they spent the last several days there staying free at Ronald McDonald House. The Hampton Inn stay ended up being free as well after a Minnesota Viking player — Shane suspects it was tight end Kyle Rudolph — paid for the room.
Even a die-hard Packer fan like Shane (the idea for Graham’s name came from Packer tight end Jimmy Graham) can get on board with that type of Viking generosity.
“Graham was born on Kyle Rudolph’s son’s birthday. That’s kind of cool,” Shane said. “We were blessed from every area.”
Graham will require more follow-ups, but shouldn’t need any more major surgeries. The outlook for babies who suffer from congenital heart disease is positive and Graham should lead a happy, normal life with few complications. And, he’ll always have a zipper scar to remind him of how tough he was when he was only days old.
Of course, he won’t really need the scar to remind him of that; Shane and Kylie will likely remind their “heart warrior” of how tough he was and all the love he received from near and far — all before he was even a month old.
It’s support they say they will never forget.
“We’re very grateful,” Shane said. “It doesn’t go unnoticed.”

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