Jordan and Mindy Morris met and married at Indian Creek Baptist Camp in Bedford, IN

They have served as directors of Indian Creek since 2010. Mindy has also been a local pre-school teach in NLCS, and is currently a stay-at-home-mom/homeschool teacher to our three boys.

Bennett was born in 2013, and was diagnosed with HLHS at just 24 hours old. Read more about his story above. Even from 2 years old, he has loved doing art of all kinds. He also loves to put on music and dance shows for his friends and family.

Beau was born in 2015, and has been a great middle brother. He loves super hero's, dancing, and learning more about the movies and music he loves. Beau is the talkative one for sure, and always has a story to tell.

Knight was born in 2018 and has been a wild addition to the family. He loves to be around his brothers, and his favorite thing is riding in the tractor and working outside with dad.

At just 24 hours old, a nurse at IU Health Bloomington performed a routine vitals check for Bennett. Upon hearing a murmur, and confirming with another nurse, Bennett had his first echocardiogram. Upon inspection from a Riley Cardiologist, Bennett was scheduled for a helicopter ride to Riley, and we were told about his initial diagnosis.

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) - is described as "Half a Heart". Children with this CHD, don't have a fully developed Left ventricle, which is the ventricle that pushes oxygenated blood out to the body. Until the 80's, children with this defect were given a life expectancy of 2 weeks or less.
Thankfully in 1981 Dr. William Norwood performed the first Cardiopulmonary Bypass ("Norwood Procedure"). This surgery, which is the first of 3 surgeries for children with HLHS, and effectively re-plumbs the heart to ensure that one squeeze of the heart pushes blood to the heart and the lungs. At the time of the surgery the child's heart is

At 6 months old, another surgery is performed to increase blood flow of deoxygenated blood directly to the lungs. (typically called the Hemi-Fontan)

And again at 2 years old, the third surgery (typically called the Fontan) is performed to increase more deoxygenated blood flow from the body to the lungs.

HLHS children aren't fixed.

These surgeries (and any others that might need to be performed depending on the individual childs anatomy and physiology) are not a full solution to the defect. The surgeries, and all care provided do increase the life expectancy of these children. In many cases these children can expect a heart transplant before their 20's. The work their "half a heart" must endure, is likely to cause heart failure at a young age. In addition to the heart care needed, these patients also typically suffer from other organ damage from the surgeries, blood-flow, de-oxygenation, and other secondary effects of the defect.