Jeremy Heinichen, Jr

One of the biggest motivations for Funds For Fighters’ first annual event and raising awareness for the Herma Heart Institute at Children’s Wisconsin is Jeremy Heinichen, Jr.

Jeremy was born on July 21, 2020 with a condition called Congenital Heart Defect (CHD), a defect in the baby’s heart that can impact blood flow through the heart. According to CDC.gov, about 1% of babies, or roughly 40,000 babies, are born each year with CHD. Of those 40,000 babies, about 1 in 4 have critical CHD and require surgery within the first year of life, which is exactly the situation Jeremy was born with. At only 9 days old Jeremy required his first open heart surgery. The procedure went well, but Jeremy still required consistent monitoring from the medical experts at the Herma Heart Institute at Children’s Wisconsin.

In May 2021, Jeremy received another heart procedure to help improve his blood flow. Unfortunately, his body did not react well to the procedure and was back in the Operating Room one week later to reverse the procedure. At that time, Jeremy was placed on a heart transplant list since there were no other surgical interventions that could help him.

On January 6, 2022 Jeremy’s family was informed that a heart had been found for him! He received the transplant the very next day. Over the course of the next week, he developed seizure like activity and battled breathing issues and fevers. A CT scan revealed that he had a head bleed and had a breathing tube put back in. Through a lot of trials of medications and hard work from the doctors and nurses at the Herma Heart Institute, as well Jeremy’s family he finally started improving towards the end of January. He had his final Cardiac Cath appointment on February 16th and was able to go home with his family on February 21st. At this point in his life Jeremy was a little over 1.5 years old and had only been home for 54 days, so this was very exciting for everyone that was following Jeremy’s journey.

We wish that was where Jeremy’s fight got a little easier, but on March 8th, he developed a bad cough and because his stats were so low during an out patient visit, the doctors sent him back to Children’s Wisconsin. He was diagnosed with Human Metapneumovirus and Astro virus. Both of these viruses impact the lungs causing his lung function to decrease rapidly. He was put on Ecmo, a respiratory support, to give his lungs a break. At the beginning of April he was removed from Ecmo and started getting a little better, however, he became sick again.

In the early hours of Sunday, April 10th Jeremy’s parents got a call from Children’s Wisconsin saying that Jeremy had coded and they were working to resuscitate him. His parent’s dropped Jeremy’s siblings off at a sitter and rushed to the hospital. The doctor’s were able to resuscitate him but on April 11th he was pronounced brain dead. Jeremy’s parents made one of the most heartbreaking decisions of their life and took him off all machines. Jeremy gained his wings in a room filled with loved ones on the evening of April 11th.

The impact that Jeremy had on so many lives in such a short period of time is truly inspirational. His smile was infectious and despite all of the challenges and battles that he faced, he always seemed to have a way to brighten everyone’s day. He will forever be missed, but his family finds their peace knowing that he is no longer suffering and is watching over their home.