Two-year-old boy seeking the community’s help with rare heart condition
Kaiser Vallee was born with a heart condition that has caused him to spend most of his life in the hospital.
By Aaliyah Mulero
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NEWBURGH, Indiana (WEVV) — While in the womb, the Vallee family was already hit with the worst news. Their unborn son had developed a backwards heart.
Kaiser Vallee is a two-year-old that has spent most of his life in the hospital, undergoing surgery after surgery with no timeline of when he’ll return home.
Elizabeth Vallee, Kaiser’s mom, says, “They just kept piling defects onto us about our son, and it was like our world sank.”
The Vallee family wasn’t able to hold Kaiser until a week and a half after he was born.
“He had his first actual surgery at two and a half weeks old”, says Vallee.
Kaiser came home at three months old, but the family had to travel back and forth to Indianapolis for constant surgeries and tests.
Vallee says, “We ended up losing our home because we weren’t able to afford to live there anymore.”
In August of 2023, doctors told the Vallee family that Kaiser would be getting one more surgery where he’d only have to stay for three weeks and then could go home.
There were complications in the surgery , however, causing Kaiser to need another open heart surgery to repair valves that weren’t functioning. Kaiser is now one of the youngest children to ever have a mechanical valve.
Vallee says, “His surgeon used the term biting the bullet when it came to trying to pull off this surgery.”
Kaiser pulled through, but then began even more complications. Kaiser was put on life support that caused his hand to start to die, having to get the tips of three fingers removed.
Then Kaiser was hit with RSV.
“For a heart patient it’s a lot worse,” says Vallee. “He coded. He was down for 25 minutes.”
While surgeons tried to save Kaiser’s life, attempt after attempt failed, causing his right leg to start to die and be amputated.
“We’ve lost more than just time with him,” says Vallee.
With all of the surgeries Kaiser has had, doctors told the family that unfortunately he isn’t a candidate for a heart transplant at this time. The two-year-old can’t even eat by mouth or stomach. Doctors have to transport food right into his bowels, which they say might be permanent.
Vallee says, “Even if he were to come home, he can’t walk on his own because he’s always going to be hooked up to a machine. He can’t really play. He can’t roll. He can’t be a kid, and that’s what really hurts, because I always pictured him and his brother being able to play.”
With no end in sight into when Kaiser can finally come home, the family is seeing medical bill after medical bill pile up.
“We’re barely make our rent, we’re barely making our car payment,” says Vallee.
As Elizabeth Vallee puts it, Kaiser is a fighter. As long as he keeps fighting, so will they.
Vallee says, “It’s something I don’t wish on any mom to have to witness, but seeing him fight, seeing him smile through all of this, it’s what’s making me fight for him.”
Here’s a list of places you can donate if you would like to help the family:
Kaiser Vallee’s GoFundMe Kaiser’s Army T-Shirts Kaiser’s Journey Facebook Page Venmo @Brynna20 PayPal bruh.mp3 Cash App $Brynna2000
The Vallee family is also hosting a silent auction in July and they’re asking the public for any items that can be donated to be auctioned off.
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