Samuel was a very special boy born with a very special heart.

He had a combination of congenital defects: Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia and Complete AV Canal Defect. ToF is a combo of 4 defects - VSD (a hole between the ventricles), overriding aorta (aorta is not correctly placed), pulmonary stenosis (or, as in Sam's case, pulmonary atresia which is a lack of a pulmonary valve which allows blood to flow from the heart to the lungs to get oxygenated), and right ventricular hypertrophy (thickening of the muscle walls). Complete AV (atrioventricular) Canal Defect, in simple terms, means the middle of his heart didn't form correctly. He had one central valve instead of the normal mitral and tricuspid valves resulting in blood not being route correctly through the heart and mixing oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.

Our sweet boy was a warrior. He fought with a strength we have never experienced and likely never will again. Events like this give us an opportunity to continue telling Sam's story while bringing more eyes and minds together to fight against CHD. Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect and the leading cause of birth defect related deaths in infants. They account for 30% to 50% of all infant deaths caused by congenital anomalies. While many of these defects now have better outcomes, this isn't the case for everyone. 

So we walk. We walk to honor and remember Sam. We walk to raise awareness. We walk for Sam and the other angels who never got the chance or had it stolen from them. We walk for the warriors still in their fight. 

Sam changed everyone he touched forever. He was pure sunshine in human form. We are forever saddened by his death, but we'll leave you with this line: We are sorry that Sam died. We are NOT sorry that he lived.