Foundation Spotlight🫀💫 Karter's Story

As Karter celebrates his 14th birthday this month, we’re honoring a journey that has been anything but ordinary. Born with multiple congenital heart defects, Karter has spent his life showing incredible strength through challenges no child should ever have to face.

At just two days old, Karter was airlifted where he had an emergent procedure to place a stent in a blood vessel that was supposed to close after birth. In November 2012, Karter was transferred to a Children’s Hospital and was placed on the heart transplant list. At only three months old, Karter received his first new heart.

His journey didn’t end there. Life after transplant meant frequent hospitalizations and ongoing medical challenges. Shortly before his fifth birthday, Karter experienced rejection, and his family learned he had developed cardiac allograft vasculopathy, a disease that affects the blood vessels of a transplanted heart. His heart never fully recovered, and he was placed back on the transplant list. In July 2018, Karter received his second heart transplant. Due to intense steroid treatment required during his battle with rejection, Karter developed steroid-induced diabetes, which he now manages as type 2 diabetes. Today, his medical journey continues, with approximately eight different specialists.

Behind every appointment, medication, and hospital visit is a family navigating the uncertainty that comes with complex medical needs. It’s a reminder that transplantation is not a single moment in time. It is a lifelong journey that brings continued challenges, sacrifices, and strength.

At Schmidt Healing Hearts Foundation, we believe families like Karter’s deserve to feel supported through every chapter of that journey. We are honored to share his story and recognize the strength it takes to keep moving forward, even when one challenge follows another.

Help us wish Karter a very happy 14th birthday! 🎂🫀 Fourteen years of resilience, two heart transplants, and a story that continues to inspire.