Heart of the matter: Stoughton toddler's family preparing for pending surgery

A Stoughton toddler will have open-heart surgery next week and his family is helping to raise money for a well known charity event.

Sixteen-month-old Eric Boykin was diagnosed with a ventricular septal defect (VSD), commonly known as a "hole in the heart," when he was just 2 days old.

The son of Finance Committee Chairwoman Holly Boykin and her husband, Bill, Eric is being treated by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston.

One in every 1,000 children is born with a VSD. Approximately 50 percent of all VSDs close on their own. In some cases, like Eric's, the VSD becomes problematic and requires surgery to close.

In January, doctors determined Eric's hole was a rare type called a conal VSD. The conal VSD almost never closes without intervention.<span> </span>

Eric's VSD is located directly under his aortic valve. In recent months, the valve began to grow into the VSD, resulting in deformation and leakage of the valve.

"If we don't fix it, it will continue to leak and over time you will get to a point where the aortic valve cannot be closed," said Dr. Jeff Myers, Eric's cardiac surgeon at MGH for Children.

Myers will operate on Eric on Sept. 10.

The doctor will go in through the pulmonary valve and close the VSD with a half centimeter GORE-TEX vascular patch. The GORE-TEX, said Myers, is the same product used to make winter outerwear.

The body has almost no reaction to the product and over time, said Myers, Eric's body will grow a layer of tissue over the GORE-TEX patch.

While Myers is operating, Eric's heart will be stopped and a cardio pulmonary bypass machine will do the work of his heart and lungs.

The toddler is expected to be in the operating room for about two hours. After the surgery, Eric will be in the intensive care unit for two to three days and hopefully able to come home within six to seven days, said Myers.

Born three weeks early in April 2006, Eric weighed five pounds, 14 ounces. Shortly after his birth, a heart murmur was heard through a routine stethoscope exam. Doctors did an electrocardiogram (EKG) and an Echocardiogram before diagnosing the newborn with a moderate sized VSD.

At four days old, Eric was started on the diuretic Lasix to prevent congestive heart failure. His parents were advised of symptoms to look for which might indicate potential problems and Eric was sent home. A visiting nurse went to the family's home three times a week to monitor Eric.

Almost immediately, an otherwise healthy Eric started having difficulty gaining weight. After multiple gastrointestinal procedures, he was diagnosed with reflux, fairly common in babies with VSDs. He was put on an anti-reflux medication and started to grow. Things were looking good, said his mom, Holly.

Then one day the visiting nurse expressed concern about Eric's blood pressure and the possibility that his heart had become enlarged. Right away Boykin took her son to the pediatrician who did an x-ray and determined it was a false alarm.

At one point, a cardiologist thought the hole was getting better; the Boykins were thrilled. And then another cardiologist determined the hole was getting worse.

"It has been a roller coaster ride," said Holly.

Once the valve problem was diagnosed, the Boykins were told that if it continued to leak, Eric would need surgery.

A few months went by and Eric's weight started to plateau.