Oklahoma boy with heart defect featured in series of books
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – An Oklahoma boy, born with a rare heart defect, has been featured in a series of books that share his journey. Six-year-old Azrael Thompson was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
"He was born without a left ventricle in his heart. He essentially, they call it half a heart," said Tiara Thompson, Azrael’s mother.
Tiara, who is also a nurse, wrote six books about the family’s path through four surgeries.
The young boy was born at Oklahoma Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City. At one week old, he had his first heart surgery. He was back at the hospital on Tuesday and said he has never been scared to return.
" I want to be a baby doctor," said Thompson.
The young boy even had his own lab coat.
From the outside looking in, a person would not be able to tell the boy’s path has been a difficult one unless you saw the scar on his chest.
His heart was pieced back together by Dr. Harold Burkhart, chief of cardiac surgery at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital.
"After serious operations and some big, big struggles, he's done fantastic," said Burkhart.
Tiara wanted to highlight those struggles in her books, which she titled “Azrael: the Heart Warrior.”
"He is the main character," said Tiara.
It was her chance to help someone else who might be able to learn from their experience.
"I didn't have a lot of resources when we found out about Azrael's heart condition, and I think that's really important," said Tiara.
You can find a link to her books here.