February is American Heart Month
NORTH SYRACUSE -- A North Syracuse child was born with a condition that had his parents doubting if he would make it.
5-year-old Caleb Prosser was born with his heart flipped and a hole in it. His parents found out about the condition weeks into the pregnancy and they were not sure if he would survive.
"The surgeon had said if he was born 10 or 15 years ago, we would not have been able to save him," says Caleb’s mother, Carissa Prosser. "My pregnancy was awful. I didn't want to talk about it. I cried everyday, but then he was born and we had a feeling of hope."
Even with hope, there was a long road ahead. Caleb had his first surgery at 3-months-old and his next heart surgery when he was 4-years-old.
The surgery helped the blood to flow the way it should while his heart is still flipped.
"You have to kind of roll with it. We didn't have a lot of time to sit and dwell on things. They call you and say surgery is in two days, and you just have to go with it," says Prosser.
Caleb is a hero in his parents’ eyes; keeping a good attitude through it all. He even got to meet his favorite heroes this past may during a Make-A-Wish trip to Orlando.
"He's a really exceptional kid who doesn't even acknowledge that he has anything wrong with him. To him this is life this is normal, and this is what he was given and he never questions it," says Prosser.
Years down the road, Caleb will need open heart surgery, but his mom is hopeful that changes in technology will make that easier. In the meantime, she says Caleb is thriving despite his health problems.
Prosser has a message for other parents whose child is born with a heart condition.
"Yeah you're going to enter into a world that you've never been into, and you’re not going to understand at all, and I am still processing things, but your child does have a great chance of a beautiful, wonderful life," says Prosser.
Little Caleb is proof of that!
