When Kimberly was pregnant with her son, Elias, doctors delivered heartbreaking news. Her unborn baby had Double Inlet Left Ventricle (DILV), a rare and complex congenital heart defect in which only one of the heart’s pumping chambers functions properly. Because of the severity of the condition, she says doctors discussed ending the pregnancy as an option. Instead, Kimberly and her family chose to continue the pregnancy and fight for their son’s life.

Elias was born in March and underwent his first cardiac procedure just weeks later. For a short time, his recovery brought hope that he was moving in the right direction.

Then tragedy struck.

On May 5, Kimberly, her mother, her 2-year-old son, and baby Elias were involved in a serious traffic crash. According to his family, Elias suffered seizures, went into shock, and his oxygen levels dropped dangerously low. His condition deteriorated so rapidly that doctors performed emergency surgery, placing a shunt to improve blood flow to his heart and lungs after his lungs collapsed.

After spending more than two months in the hospital, Elias now faces another major milestone. Doctors have determined that he has already outgrown the temporary shunt and will soon undergo the Glenn procedure, a critical open-heart surgery commonly performed in infants with single-ventricle heart conditions such as DILV. The operation reroutes blood from the upper body directly to the lungs, reducing the workload on the heart and serving as the second stage in a series of lifesaving surgeries.

Kimberly says the surgery is happening earlier than expected because of everything Elias has endured since the crash. She also shared that the driver responsible for the collision allegedly left the scene and has not been identified.

Despite months of medical challenges, Kimberly says her son continues to inspire everyone around him. She has learned to treasure every smile, every cry, and every quiet moment she gets to spend with him.

Today, the family’s greatest hope is simple: that Elias’ surgery is successful, his recovery is smooth, and one day he can leave the hospital to grow up alongside his brothers.

Source: Family account shared publicly by Kimberly; background information from Johns Hopkins Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.