SWFL sees increase of babies born with congenital heart defects

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Jayce Lopez is just 4 weeks old, but he already smiles from ear to ear.

Those smiles mean the world to his mother, Melissa Bustos, who was in pure panic the day he was born.

“I didn’t even get to see him, hold him, or anything. They just took him.”

Jayce was born with total anomalous pulmonary venous return.

“[It] means that veins did not return back to the heart normally,” said Dr. Eric Eason, Jayce’s doctor.

Eason says we would like to think Jayce’s story is rare, but it’s not. Southwest Florida is seeing a rise of infants being born with congenital heart defects.

Eason believes there’s one major factor for the increase, “We are a growing region of the state.”

The trend is so severe, the Lee Memorial Health System recently hired a second doctor to help treat patients.

Dr. Suying Lam has only worked at the hospital for a few months, but she has already seen the need for additional doctors.

“I want to be part of this growth and development of this field,” said Lam.

Just across the street from the doctors’ offices lies part of the solution.

“It’s amazing to have watched the building go up,” said Eason, referring to the new children’s hospital. “It will be invaluable in how we take care of kids.”

For Jayce, that means a better chance at a normal and healthy life.

“I’m going to tell him he’s our Superman, or even our Ironman, he’s even better than Ironman,” said Bustos of her young son, whose life is just beginning.