By Sean CW Korsgaard
CP Reporter
A local toddler recently received his second, and hopefully final open heart surgery last month. Along the way, he’s touched the hearts and lives of thousands of others.
Finn Blumenthal was born with multiple congenital heart defects, and was only an infant when he underwent his first open heart surgery. This marked the beginning of a terrifying ordeal for his parents, Kelly and Michael Blumenthal, who over the past two years, have been by Finn’s side as he has undergone fourteen separate surgeries, fearful that it wouldn’t be enough.
“We didn’t think we would see Halloween or graduations or birthdays,” said Kelly. “We thought we were on borrowed time.”
In his short life, Finn Blumenthal has received 14 procedures, 12 surgeries, and two open heart surgeries, his most recent on September 14. On that day, the Blumenthals went to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, for Finn’s biggest and riskiest surgery ever: a modified version of the Fontan procedure, which involves re-configuring his actual heart.
Because of Finn’s complicated heart anatomy, he was not an ideal candidate for Fontan, so the Blumenthals were told the procedure would be modified for him and no one could foresee the outcome. If it went well though, it was hoped this could be the last surgery Finn would need, with his heart then able to serve him through adulthood.
If all went well, the procedure was set to last seven hours. Instead, the lead surgeron, Dr. Thomas Spray came out in 37 minutes – it had gone BETTER than expected, and they’d done everything they’d needed to in less than an hour.
“In 14 surgeries, we’ve never heard good news,” said Kelly. “This is the first time we’ve cried happy tears in the hospital. They’re overflowing now. There are buckets of them.”
Throughout all the medical uncertainty, one thing that has always remained steadfast for the Blumenthal family has been the outpouring of support from the community. Finn became a darling in local media, with several TV stations and newspapers, including our own, following his progress. Several local fundraisers have collected money for Finn’s various procedures. A Facebook page, Prayers for Finn, managed by his mother Kelly, has nearly 64,000 followers, and they’ve all offered words of love and support each step of Finn’s journey to recovery.
Though the Blumenthal’s are residents of Stafford, young Finn Blumenthal has touched more than a few lives here in Caroline County as well. Perhaps most notably, he made national news yet again when a Caroline High School student, Taylor Schafer, asked for him to accompany her to prom, with pictures of Finn in a toddler-sized tuxedo making the rounds on ABC News and the Today Show.
Several updates on Finn’s recovery following his most recent surgery were posted to the Prayers for Finn page over the past three weeks, but the most amazing update was posted on October 9
It was a 35 second long video, showing the nearly three-year-old boy doing something he’d never done before: running across his front lawn, like his surgery three weeks ago had never even happened.
Watching a day she feared would never come at last happen before her eyes, Kelly Blumenthal had only words of joy to share with those watching Finn’s recovery.
“Almost three years old, and never had he run in his entire life, and now, there is no stopping him,” Kelly said. “He can do anything, and he will, I can’t believe my eyes. I will be eternally grateful.”
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