FRIDAY, Aug. 12, 2022 (American Heart Association News) — At age 21, Chris O’Connell learned that his pediatric cardiologist had retired. He was assigned a new doctor for the annual checkups he had had all his life.
“I know you’ve been told not to do vigorous exercise or strain your heart, but that’s the old way of thinking,” the cardiologist told her. “Think of your heart as a muscle that needs to be trained.”
Chris was blind.
“Are you serious?” he asked.
Chris, who lives an hour north of San Francisco in Rohnert Park, California, was an infant when he was diagnosed with a transitional atrioventricular canal defect. He was born with a condition in which extra blood travels to the pulmonary arteries, which can make the heart and lungs work harder. This can cause the heart to enlarge and the lungs to become congested.
At 3 years old he had surgery to repair the problem. Her pediatric cardiologist warned her not to strain because it could strain her heart even more. His parents enforced what seemed like good advice.
When Chris was young, he convinced his parents to let him play baseball. Although he was great at hitting the ball, he forced himself to run tepidly. In high school he switched to golf.
Now, hearing this exciting news from her new doctor, she was getting a different message: to let go and push yourself.
“Maybe you could start jogging,” suggested his wife, Emily O’Connell.
It took Chris a couple of months to wrap his head around the idea. Then he decided, “If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it to the end.”
One of his favorite TV shows was “American Ninja Warrior,” a reality sports entertainment show where thousands of competitors attempt to complete a series of increasingly difficult obstacle courses.
I would start training for the show.
Three years later, in 2013, Chris was finally ready to submit a video that showed he was worthy of an audition. He was in the best shape of his life, having improved his upper body strength, grip and balance, all important skills for competition.
Before the taping, he went for his annual heart checkup.
Days later, he was on the golf course when his cardiologist called. She told him there was a problem with his aortic valve. It had to be repaired immediately.
“Can we wait a few months?” he asked. “My wife is 8 months pregnant.”
The doctor said no. The surgery was scheduled for two weeks later.
The valve repair was successful. But Chris had a complication: both of his lungs collapsed. He underwent emergency surgery and remained in the hospital for 11 days.
When he returned home, he could barely walk and was told not to lift anything. Emily, still pregnant, had to do everything for him, including helping him sit up.
Their son, Cavan, was born less than a month later.
All went well with the delivery, and Cavan received a clean bill of health. Years earlier, the couple had been told it was unlikely they would have a child with a heart defect, and it turned out to be the case.
Then, at Cavan’s two-week checkup, the pediatrician listened to Cavan’s heart for an extended time.
Chris and Emily looked at each other nervously.
“I knew before I said anything,” Chris said.
Cavan was diagnosed with two congenital heart defects. One, endocardial cushion defect, was similar to his father’s. The other was mitral valve stenosis, a narrowing of the heart’s mitral valve that can cause exhaustion and shortness of breath, among other problems.
Doctors said Cavan would need several surgeries throughout his life to repair the damage. The first surgery came when he was 2 months old.
“That first moment of seeing him in the ICU after surgery with over a dozen wires attached to his chest open made me sick to my stomach,” Emily said. “I felt like I was dying inside.”
Cavan developed complications and ended up spending 36 days in hospital.
Two years later, he needed a second surgery. That one went well and in four days he arrived home. Now 8 years old, he will face others in the future.
Meanwhile, Chris never gave up on his dream of becoming an American ninja warrior.
Once he recovered from surgery and Cavan’s health had stabilized, he returned to training. In 2018, he auditioned again.
“I had been building my upper body to do the obstacles, but I wasn’t ready for the real obstacles,” he said. “It’s a lot harder on a real course because you have to do all these special movements with your body.”
He fell at the first hurdle, putting him out of the competition.
In 2019, he was invited again. He reached the second hurdle.
This year, it’s back again. Now 32, he overcame three hurdles, enough to land him in a televised episode. It was recorded in mid-March and aired on July 11.
Before Chris competed, a video was aired about his heart defects and surgeries in Cavan. The cameras then cut to Cavan and Emily in the VIP section.
“At first I wanted to do it to prove myself,” said Chris, who competed under the name Heart Warrior Ninja. “Then I realized that if I can get on air, I can also help other people by focusing on congenital heart defects. I also wanted to show Cavan that anything is possible, that he doesn’t have to be afraid or hold back because of his heart”.
Emily said Cavan is already following his father’s example.
“It’s like Chris isn’t afraid of anything, so Cavan has that fearless energy too,” Emily said. “As a mom, it’s a little scary, but it’s also great. It’s okay to be scared, but you don’t have to let fear rule your life.”
American Heart Association News covers heart and brain health. Not all opinions expressed in this story reflect the official position of the American Heart Association. Copyright owned by the American Heart Association, Inc. and all rights are reserved. If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.
By Diane Daniel, American Heart Association News
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