Patty Brown, WI-ACHD Founder

My name is Patricia A. Brown. Most people call me Patty. I am 45 y/o and currently live in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. I am a lawyer and I am self employed with a full time law practice. I also am part of a family printing business part time known as Northstar Printing & Graphics. Both businesses have websites if you care to check them out. www.patriciabrownlaw.com and www.northstarprinting.net I came from a large family -- I have 11 siblings. One of my older brothers and I were born with a congenital heart defect. My brother had a VSD repair in approximately 1960. He is 55 years old and never had any further known problems. I was born with ASD which went unnoticed for 8 years. I was told that since my heart had pumped irregularly for 8 years, my pulmonary valve became stenosed. My parents were told that without surgery I would die before I was 10 y/o. I underwent surgery in 1974 at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee by Dr. Litwin. He patched the hole in my atrial wall, and repaired my pulmonary valve. After that surgery, the valve always leaked, but I had normal pulmonary pressures. I was mostly fine, but always became out of breath pretty easily and couldn't keep up with my peers in athletics. My child cardiologist was Dr. David Friedberg. I didn't really follow up with a cardiologist once I hit adulthood until 1997 when it became clear that I had atrial tachicardia. I was referred to an electrophysiologist who did an ablation, but it didn't work because of too much scar tissue from my heart surgery. The arrhythmia was controlled by medication for about 10 years while I was bumped around from one adult cardiologist to another at Aurora. In 2006 my annual echo showed that my right ventricle was more enlarged, and I underwent a catheterization which still showed normal pulmonary pressures. It was determined that the leak in my pulmonary valve was getting worse. Each year thereafter the echo showed the right ventricle more and more enlarged and in 2010 they found me in atrial flutter. Aurora moved me to the heart failure clinic at St. Lukes, and that is when I decided it was time for a second opinion. I went outside of Milwaukee to a group of cardiologists in Green Bay who told me that I needed an Adult Congenital expert. That is when I learned about Dr. Earing. I saw Dr. Earing in April, 2010, and I had open heart surgery in June 2010 at Children's Hospital by Dr. Tweddell. I was the biggest baby in the CICU that week. They replaced my pulmonary valve with a bovine valve, and now I feel more normal and healthier than I have ever felt in my entire life. Last year I participated in the US Bank climb and trained for 150 mile bike ride. Unfortunately I broke my arm 2 days before the ride and could not participate, but I was physically ready for it. These are things I was never able to do prior to my valve replacement. Dr. Tweddell also repaired my tricuspid valve and a MAZE procedure to correct the arrhythmia. I needed a pacemaker after the surgery, but feel great.. Six months post op my right ventricle was normal size. This was an amazing difference from the heart failure clinic at St. Lukes, and I can only wonder why none of the treating doctors had referred me to an Adult Congenital expert much sooner. I did go to Mayo clinic for a second opinion regarding the need for surgery. Mayo has the largest adult congenital clinic in the world, and they told me the same thing Dr. Earing had told me. I felt really good in my decision to stay at Children's for my heart care. Thanks. Patty