Kristin Ware said it was a dream come true when she found out she was having a boy, but her dreams were short-lived when she discovered her son was born with a rare heart condition.

“I know I have a son,” Ware said. “I hear my son’s first heartbeat. I cried. It was emotional.”

But when Ware was about 16 weeks pregnant, her tears of joy turned to sadness.

“I think the second ultrasound showed something wrong with his heart,” Ware said.

Christine learned that her son, Asia, was born with a very rare heart condition called heterodextral dextrocardia.

“He has a very rare congenital heart disease, or heart malformation, that doesn’t form properly and doesn’t function properly,” said Rady, medical director of heart failure and transplant programs. said Matthew Bock. Children’s hospital.

Asia’s heart is located on the right side of her chest and has only one ventricle. A normal heart has two.

“It was tough. We didn’t know how bad it would be in the days and months ahead,” Ware said.

Asia had her first heart surgery at two weeks old and spent the first five months of her life at Rady’s.

“He had to be hospitalized in August and it was really tough. I wasn’t ready for it,” Ms Ware said.

Now, at 14 months old, Rady Children’s Hospital has become his second home.

“Babies tend to wait quite a long time. It’s hard to find a small child’s heart the same size as yours, so you tend to wait six months to a year,” Bock says.

Rady Children’s Hospital currently has 10 children on its heart transplant waiting list, including Asia.

“Some days I’m hopeful, and other days I’m like, ‘Here we are. He’s 7 months old,'” Ware said.

Ware said they are also trying to make ends meet while they wait, including throwing a Mickey Mouse-themed birthday party for Asia when she turns 1 in December.

“I got emotional because I couldn’t take him home, but it was still such a great day. He had so much love,” Ware said. said.

Ware said Asia’s plans for her return include a trip to Disneyland.

“The first person we’ll meet will be Mickey Mouse,” Ware said.

Since 2015, Rady surgeons have performed 57 heart transplants.