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Fundraiser To Aid Tot With Serious Heart Defects

Klint Lowry/SUNCOAST NEWS

Mark and Angie Lofreddo knew before their son, Chance, 7 months, was born that his heart is seriously malformed. Friends and family are helping find ways to raise money for medical and other expenses needed to deal with Chance's ailment.

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: August 20, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Garage sales have become nearly as common on weekends as backyard barbecues. While there is nothing trivial about the boost they give to families' budgets, there is one garage sale going on this Saturday that means considerably more to one local family.

A combination community garage sale and cookout will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the home of Stephanie Troxell, 4748 Voorhees Road, New Port Richey. The event is a fundraiser for the Lofreddo family - specifically 7-month-old Chance Lofreddo, as he nears the first of several heart surgeries in his lifetime.

"They're telling us now they're going to try to do the least amount surgery-wise to get him by," his father, Mark, said.

At first look, it's difficult to tell Chance has any medical problem at all. Except for a barely perceptible discoloration, he seems like a happy, healthy energetic baby.

"He does look so normal," his mother, Angie, said as she bounced Chance on her lap. "He would have been sent home as a normal baby; probably within a few weeks he would have passed away."

Fortunately, Chance's condition was spotted during an ultrasound examination months before Angie gave birth. This gave his parents and doctors time to plan.

Actually, Chance suffers from a combination of conditions - tricuspid atresia, transposition of the great arteries, ventricular-septal defect and pulmonary stenosis. His parents have become well-versed in explaining what all those medical terms mean.

"He's missing the right side of his heart," Angie said. "He has a little nub section that developed."

A normal heart has four chambers; Chance's heart only has two. Complicating his condition, the developed part of his heart developed backward. Because of the way his heart is built, it has to work harder. But because it works harder, it is building muscle tissue that will soon become too tight to allow blood to flow properly.

"He can't live much longer with the way it is now," Mark said. "His heart is just barely balancing the oxygen and the blood flowing in and out."

For now, Chance is still getting about 83 to 85 percent of the oxygen into his blood that is considered optimal. If it gets to 75 percent, that's when it gets dangerous.

Chance will need to have surgery soon, probably within a month. After that, each step has to be determined after they see the effects of the previous step. With babies, it's been found it is always best to limit the amount of work they do in the first few years, Mark said.

By today's medical standards, the doctors are saying they can probably get Chance's heart to work 25 to 30 years. They hope new procedures will be developed to further extend his lifespan.

Chance cannot get private medical insurance. He does qualify for Medicaid, but, Mark pointed out, "they just finally covered him being born a couple of weeks ago." To further complicate the family's situation, Mark, a former sheriff's deputy, was shot in the hand in 2001.

As a result, he developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which causes his nervous system to send false signals in every direction, causing pain, weakness, lack of circulation and coordination throughout his body. He has been on permanent disability since.

Not only does this affect the family's income and insurance coverage, but between his condition and the effects of the medication he takes for it, there are times Mark is physically incapable of taking care of Chance, who needs someone nearby at all times. For a baby with his condition, even crankiness can be a sign of imminent danger. This means Angie cannot put in fulltime work hours away from home.

Mark and Angie said they have been hesitant about going public with their story and holding fund-raisers. In nearly 10 years as a cop, Mark said, he'd just about seen it all in terms of people in crisis. But since his own injury, and now with Chance, he's gained a new perspective.

Anyone who can donate items for the garage sale or the cookout can e-mail Troxell at stephanietroxell@hotmail.com. Volunteers the day of the garage sale will get a free meal. Customers will get a burger or hotdog, drink and chips for a $4 donation.

Other fund-raisers are in the works. Anyone interested in donating or volunteering can contact Mark Lofreddo's sister, Michelle McFerrin, at 727-207-1662.

Klint Lowry can be reachedat 727-815-1067 or at klowry@suncoastnews.com.

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