A second chance and gifts that keep on giving

Audrina was not even 2 years old when her mom, Alice Chou, handed her over to the medical team at Children’s Health for her second open heart surgery.

Alice still remembers her daughter’s “mama” calls, as the clinical team walked off with her.

Alice and her husband, Kevin, didn’t want Audrina to have a second surgery, but she wasn’t eligible for a less invasive procedure via catheter.

Alice was 20 weeks pregnant when her obstetrician diagnosed her growing baby with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect. She switched physicians to one at UT Southwestern Medical Center, so they could better monitor the baby. After Audrina was born, her condition was stable enough that she didn’t require surgery right away. However, when she was 4-and-a-half months old, she had her first open-heart surgery.

“It was a tough experience for us parents,” Kevin said.

Alice and Kevin are grateful to the Child Life specialists who walked alongside Audrina throughout the process before surgery and helped calm her nerves.

“They did a great job preparing her for the IV and making it a smooth process,” Alice said. “They had a selection of toys set aside for her afterward for her to choose. They made it a very comfortable experience for her.”

Now a healthy and active 12-year-old, Audrina visits her cardiologist annually for checkups. She enjoys sports without physical restrictions and plays volleyball, basketball and tennis.

She understands she has a heart condition, but it’s not regularly on her mind. She knows she may tire out more quickly, but overall, she lives like any other middle schooler.

About a decade after Audrina was born, her parents established through their family foundation two endowments, the Chou Family Endowment for Child Life and the Chou Family Endowment for Cardiology, to thank the people who gave their daughter a future outside the hospital and support future technology and research for cardiac patients.

Their hope is that researchers can find less invasive methods for intervention, meaning fewer children have to have open heart procedures.

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There are so many children with heart disease, and after experiencing it with Audrina first-hand, it’s life changing. We want to support research and new technology that can benefit the lives of other kids.

— Alice, Audrina's mother

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This year, the Chou family expanded their investment in the future generation of children, pledging their support to the new Dallas pediatric campus in honor of Audrina and her care team.

“Since Children’s Health has been such a big part of her journey in life, we want to do whatever we can to support the organization,” Kevin said.

Now, the preteen has dreams of helping patients with heart conditions like her one day.

“On the first day of school, on the board that says what she wants to be when she grows up, for the past couple of years, she’s said cardiologist,” her mom said.