Charleigh’s older brother, CJ, was as excited as Charleigh to dig into the delicious taco cake. Every year Charleigh and her older brother, CJ, share their special birthday weekend. This year was Charleigh’s 9th birthday and CJ’s 10th birthday. Just like their birthdays, CJ and Charliegh are close. CJ always supports Charleigh during her travel and medical treatments.

Charleigh Piper Horsley was born prematurely in 2010. As a toddler, she suffered from severe asthma and was hospitalized at least once every year. Following a particularly severe episode of asthma in 2016, doctors noticed an enlargement of her right heart and diagnosed her with pulmonary hypertension (PH). PH refers to high blood pressure in the arteries of the heart and lungs. Structural issues of the heart, thickening and enlargement, leads to PH. Over time, high pressure damages vital pulmonary arteries eventually leading to failure of the heart and/or lungs.

Sometimes, medication can reduce PH and allow the heart and lungs to heal. Unfortunately, after years of treating Charleigh’s PH with medication, the function of her heart and lungs continues to deteriorate. Eventually, she will need a double lung transplant to save her life. For now, Charleigh is in the hospital recovering from surgery to add Potts shunt in her heart. The shunt should help to restore blood flow throughout her body and protect her lungs. Hopefully, this will give her more time before she needs a double lung transplant.

To read more about her recovery of “PHight” against PH, see the updates on her facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/pg/CharleighPiper/posts/?ref=bookmarks&mt_nav=0

With Smiles,

Molly Sargen

Icing Smiles Blog Writer