A North Texas boy born with half a heart has helped make a family whole and now his mother hopes their journey will inspire others to live life to the fullest.
Although Redi Tomlin was born with only half a heart, he lives life to the fullest.
In his family's backyard, he runs from playing baseball to jumping on the trampoline.
“For somebody that has half a heart, he loves people so much,” said his mother Holly Tomlin.
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At the age of seven, he’s already had three open heart surgeries. The first happened when he was just a week old after being born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
“[It’s] a severe form of congenital heart disease, basically the whole left side of his heart never formed,” Holly said.
He was also up for adoption and in the care of a nurse practitioner at Children’s Health ready to grow her family.
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“I remember finding out the night that he became available for adoption that he was going to need a home,” Holly said. “I actually told my husband ‘I think he’s supposed to be my baby.’”
Two years prior, ovarian cancer took away Holly’s ability to have more children. The family was discussing the possibility of adoption when Reid became her patient.
"I'd taken care of many patients with the same heart condition. I had seen several patients who needed adopted families that had just sat and waited," Holly said.
The Tomlins brought Reid home when he was 10 weeks old to foster and finalized the adoption a year later.
“He completed our family. He’s been so special and changed our lives forever in so many ways,” Holly said. "That was what God meant for us."
Through her role as a pediatric cardiology NP, Holly continues to counsel families facing the same uncertainties now with the perspective of a mother who knows the challenges and the joy.
“We don’t fully know what’s in the future for [Reid] and what that looks like,” Holly said. “Honestly our faith is what carries us and he’s a reminder to live every day like it’s our last. He has taught us to love life and live to the fullest.”
