Ridge Petersen was born with half a heart but his fate changed when he got an unexpected call at Christmas.
ROCKWALL, Texas — As parents to six boys, all Katie and Tagg Petersen, of Rockwall, expected for Christmas was a little rest.
That’s why, in late December, when a call came in at 5 a.m. they didn’t answer.
“I heard the phone but I just silenced it because you’re sleeping, you’re not sure what’s going on,” Katie said. “We’re both just trying to process when she called back.”
“And she said, ‘This is a good thing. This is a Christmas miracle,’” Tagg recalled.
Their good thing came from their worst thing.
The Petersen’s middle son, 9-year-old Ridge, was born with hypoplastic right heart syndrome. In other words, he only had half of a functioning heart.
With the help of surgeries and medication, Ridge’s heart had been working pretty well. That is, until about a year ago.
“He just wasn’t developing physically the way he needed to because his heart was failing,” Tagg said. “He would need a heart transplant to survive.”
“You’re like, ‘maybe someday he’ll have to have one,’ but that someday came a lot faster than we were expecting or thinking,” said Katie.
Doctors urged them to get Ridge on the transplant list immediately. They did. But, the family was told it could be almost two years before a heart became available. By that point, there’s no telling if Ridge would even be healthy enough to receive a transplant.
All they could do was wait.
“It just started to feel really long and I was like, ‘Will I ever find a heart?’” Ridge said.
Unexpectedly, just two months into their two-year wait, the phone rang.
The surgery happened just three days after Christmas.
Tagg and Katie say they’ve been overwhelmed with support from their community, church and neighbors.
Of course, their joy is met with remarkable sorrow.
“You feel guilty trying to be happy for Ridge and what it means for him but the reality of what that means for another family,” Katie said.
Eventually, they’d love to meet the donor’s family to express their sympathy and overwhelming gratitude.
“They chose to give life to someone else and I hope they know their sacrifice is blessing others,” said Tagg.
Until then, Ridge says he’s focused on his future driving monster trucks. Although, he’s also got a great contingency plan.
“Be a doctor,” Ridge said. “If I am a doctor, then all the kids that get a heart transplant, I can tell all them, ‘Hey, don’t worry. I’ve done this.’”
He’s all but guaranteeing the heart that saved his life will save even more.
