Resilient Child Gets A Special Wish

Four-year-old Vivian Andorf was born with multiple heart defects. Doctors told her parents Margaret and Jimmy that there was a 95% mortality rate within the first year for children with this condition, and their chance of seeing her first day of kindergarten was none at all.

Vivian had Heterotaxy RAI (right atrial isomerism) with Asplenia, Single Ventricle, Right Dominant AtrioVentrical Canal (AVC), Total Anomalous Pulmonary Vein Return (TAPVR), Pulmonary Atresia, and Pulmonary Vein Stenosis (PVS) in all 4 veins. She also had Malrotation and developed a colon stricture.

Surgeons at Cleveland Clinic Children's performed three open heart surgeries, a TAPVR repair, and inserted a Blalock–Taussig (BT) shunt - all within three hours of Vivian's first breath. At three months Vivian returned to Cleveland Clinic Children's Pediatric Cardiology department for a suture-less repair for the Pulmonary Vein Stenosis, and again at seven months for a bi-directional Glenn.

"She has overcome the odds, but her fight is far from over. Despite everything she is one of the happiest toddlers you will ever meet. We couldn’t imagine life without her and hope we never will.”

Margaret and Jimmy are very grateful for the hard work performed by Cleveland Clinic Children's doctors to give Vivian as normal as a life as possible.

"She has overcome the odds, but her fight is far from over," says Margaret. "Despite everything she is one of the happiest toddlers you will ever meet. We couldn’t imagine life without her and hope we never will.”

At the age of four, Vivian is now a typical little girl, aside from her twelve heart cauterizations. Her parents never considered the idea that they would have to worry about Vivian going to school, but now Vivian watches longingly as school busses drop kids off on her street every day.

Unfortunately, because of Vivian's complex heart disease, her cardiac reserves are very low and even a small infection can be a serious health risk. Which means that attending school is too dangerous for her health at this time.

When volunteers at Cleveland's chapter of A Special Wish Foundation, an organization granting wishes to children with life-threatening diseases, heard about Vivian's case, they decided to make the impossible a reality. The group reached out to Brunswick City School Superintendent Mike Mayell about helping Vivian experience the excitement of the first bus ride to school.

Local bus drivers began volunteering to make the trip and soon the entire cost was paid for through donations.

And so, on the Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend, cars full of well-wishers, family, and friends lined up and down the Andorf's street awaiting the arrival of the 8:15 a.m. bus. Jimmy picked up Vivian as they watched Brunswick School Bus #47 pull up to their driveway with red flashing lights. Once onboard the bus, Vivian and her family began to celebrate as they neared their destination, a Chuck E. Cheese in Parma, Ohio that held a private event for Vivian to ensure there was no risk of infection.

For one day, Vivian got exactly what she wanted: To ride the bus just like all the other kids.