KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The DeBolt family is big into bowling and baseball; Chandler is one of the biggest fans.
"He has a job that is greeting in the suites at our minor league team called the Tulsa Drillers," said Chandler's mom, Lisa DeBolt.
While his love for baseball is well known, his heart needed attention. Chandler was born with a congenital heart defect that caused limited blood flow to his body.
"He was born with this valve needing intervention, and so when he was a baby, he had a procedure. But it didn't go exactly as planned," DeBolt said.
Chandler's family said he suffered a brain injury that caused cerebral palsy.
"So, having to come back at age 29 and kind of do something in the same area, to the same valve, was something that gave me a lot of anxiety and worry," DeBolt said. "We didn't know if we would get to this point. We didn't have a lot of great options whenever we discovered we needed help."
However, doing nothing wasn't an option.
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"When we presented this issue to Chandler's sister, it was a conversation that was difficult to have with her because we didn't know we had any solutions," DeBolt said. "And she was like, 'Well, Mom, if anybody can find that doctor, it'll be you.' And so that really kept the back of my mind to not give up."
The Oklahoma family was referred to a congenital heart disease specialist and the Adult Congenital Heart Disease program at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City. In February, Chandler underwent the lifesaving procedure.
"We're looking at Chandler's trans-catheter aortic valve replacement and what we've got is our catheter, large catheter coming down from the carotid artery in his neck," Dr. Adnan Chhatriwalla shared, showing Chandler's X-ray of the procedure. "This valve is made out of metal, so you see it very clearly on X-ray. It's crimped down on the catheter in the balloon, we position it right inside the old valve. We expand the balloon, inflate the balloon, expand the valve and it kind of latches onto the calcium of his old valve. So when we deflate the balloon and remove it, that new valve is in place and starts to work."
Chandler's family is noticing the difference.
"It's been awesome, it's gone great. Everything went perfectly, and he has a new heart valve now. He's been doing great with it," DeBolt said. "The faith that we have... We had been through a lot when he was a child, and we always had the Lord's guidance in our lives."
The DeBolt family said they are very grateful for the team at Saint Luke's and the care Chandler received. They say he's excited to greet more fans at Tulsa Drillers games again.
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