Family wants to give boy with failing donor heart the 'best holiday ever'

Have you sent out your Christmas cards yet? If you haven’t, William Sidebottom asks that you add him to your list.

The nine-year-old from Asheboro, North Carolina was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) and the donor heart he received three years ago is rejecting.

His mother believes this could be his last Christmas.

“We’re just going to give him the best holiday ever and hope and pray,” Jennifer Lowery, William’s mom, wrote in a Facebook group.

Posted by Will's journey on Sunday, December 8, 2019

William has had HLHS, a birth defect that affects blood flow through the heart, since birth. When he was 10 days old he had his first open-heart surgery.

“He coded for 45 minutes while I watched in horror. Luckily he survived and had 2 more open-heart surgeries before the age of 4,” Lowery shared.

When he was six, he had a heart transplant. But now William’s body is rejecting his donor heart, the heart that saved his life.

According to a GoFundMe, during his three-year biopsy doctors discovered his arteries were 99 percent blocked, and he underwent emergency surgery. Six months after his surgery, the stint hadn’t fixed the problem. William’s arteries were 90, 80, and 70 percent blocked.

We survived a day of neurological testing that the Greg Olsen foundation funded. He tested in the 75th percentile…
Posted by Jennifer Lowery on Thursday, September 12, 2019

“William’s body is rejecting his heart and is only given months to live. William is just 9 years old,” a friend shared with WFMY. “He is at 80% heart failure. He is not a candidate for a new heart because his immune system is too strong and it would just reject a new one.”

Lowery wrote on Facebook that William has run out of options.

“All of his arteries are blocked and he’s even grown new ones to compensate. His amazing team is still exhausting all options, calling every hospital and doctor because no one could ever give up on such an amazing kid.”