My name is Darlene Staimpel and my son John was born with Ebstein’s Anomaly.  I had no idea until he was born (March 2005).  That was one of the scariest days of my life.  I gave birth and then the nurses took him.  I never saw him.  Everyone left me in the room by myself while they were trying to figure out what was wrong.  After 20 minutes my husband walked in my room and said that “something” was wrong and they have literally every doctor and nurse in the hospital helping him.  They stuck him over 100 times that day just to get an iv started.  A larger hospital’s transfer team came to take him.  I got to touch his hand and foot but never saw his face or held him until the next day.  I had to stay in one hospital while my newborn baby, so sick, was in another hospital 45 miles away. I found out later that night that the transfer team had to revive him twice. 

Dr Chris Knott-Craig

The doctors ran several tests and diagnosed him with Ebsteins.  The hospital released me the next morning to be with John.  I remember seeing him for the first time and I was so scared. He was so blue he was almost black.  We spoke to his cardiologist and he said that they would have to transfer him to yet another hospital because they could not give him the proper treatment.  The hospital team Lear jetted him to a larger hospital where he stayed 3 days.  We were told again that they could not help him.  The staff, my husband, myself, and our family and friends made calls to every hospital in the US and NO ONE could or would help.  By the grace of GOD we found the only surgeon in the WORLD that has perfected Ebstein’s Anomaly in newborns.  He agreed to take our son if he could make the flight.  John had been intubated and was now grey and pretty much lifeless. We flew 8 hours to find Dr. Christopher Knott-Craig.  Our first meeting he explained that he wanted to wait until John was a month old before he could do the surgery. He said that he was way to sick and his survival rate would be less than 10%.  At this point John was in complete renal failure and heart failure. He also had a small brain bleed. Taking the advice of Dr. Knott-Craig we agreed to wait. 

The next morning Dr. Knott-Craig called us in and said tomorrow morning is the surgery, we have no choice.  This is his only chance for survival.  That was a hard day for myself and family.  Later that night, Dr. Knott-Craig said it would be a great idea to express our love to our son, make peace and say our goodbyes. That was the hardest thing I have ever done.  The next morning Dr. Knott-Craig performed the most AMAZING surgery on John.  He had made it off the by-pass and was doing great.  From that moment on, John never had a set back or hick-up.  He grew to become an extremely strong, smart, beautiful, tough and hyper 4 year old. Dr. Knott-Craig is now in Memphis, TN and I HIGHLY recommend him if anyone needs this procedure done.  Because of Dr. Knott-Craig and his skills, my son will need no future surgeries for Ebsteins.  HE IS CURED!!!! I would love to say to any parent going through this right now, I know what your going through.  I know the pain, heartache and deepen sadness and helplessness you feel. God will see you through as He did my son and my family. My email address is staimpeld <at> yahoo.com if anyone would like to talk.