Surgery survivor pitches in to raise money to battle cardiovascular disease
Running through the yard, zigzagging between his opponents during a game of touch football, Cory Cavinee is as healthy as can be. Barefoot, wearing shorts and a T-shirt that reads “Not Listening,” he shouts, laughs and is never without breath. Someone driving by the house would never think the 11-year-old boy roughhousing with his brothers underwent open-heart surgery seven months ago, and one would never guess his dirt-smudged shirt covered a raised, pink scar running down the center of his chest.
Born with aortic stenosis, Cavinee underwent a fairly new procedure to replace his aortic valve in February. The surgery, performed at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh by cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Victor O. Morell, lasted six hours.
“It was an emotional time,” said Cavinee’s father, Scott, during an interview in the family home in South Union Township.
Curled up on the couch next to his father, Cavinee listens, unfazed by the medical terms tossed around while his father talks about the surgery and his medical history.
Scott Cavinee said his son, only 4 months old at the time, was diagnosed with the aortic stenosis, a condition where the aortic valve is especially narrow and doesn’t allow enough blood to enter the heart.
After diagnosing Cavinee, doctors told the family he would eventually have to have surgery to replace the valve. Scott Cavinee said the traditional procedure for correcting the heart problem involved replacing the faulty valve with either a pig valve or a mechanical device, which would mean Cavinee would have to take anti-rejection medication and wouldn’t have been allowed to play sports.
Cavinee would also have to undergo another surgery to replace a larger valve when he was 16, his father said.
Because of those reasons, Scott Cavinee said doctors decided to put off performing surgery until absolutely necessary. Cavinee’s parents were told to “keep an eye” on him, to pay attention if he started breathing heavier or if his skin turned bluish. He was allowed to participate in sports, but had to be careful not to over exert himself, Scott Cavinee said.
Although he knew his son would have to undergo open-heart surgery one day, Scott Cavinee said he was still shocked when the cardiologist, during one of the frequent, routine visits the family had gotten so used to, said the time had come for surgery.
“It caught us off guard,” he said. “We knew all along it would have to be done sometime, but it was still a shock.”
However, because of medical advances that were made, Scott Cavinee said doctors were able to replace his son’s aortic valve with his pulmonary valve, eliminating the need for anti-rejection medicine. The procedure also eliminated the need for further operations, since the pulmonary valve should grow and expand with Cavinee.
Scott Cavinee said because of this new procedure his son can participate in all sports, except for football, wrestling and weightlifting.
Six weeks after the surgery, Cavinee played in an indoor soccer tournament championship game and scored a goal in the first 16 seconds. He went on to score two more.
“I couldn’t wait to go in,” he said.
With a mop of blond hair and a slight smattering of freckles across his cheeks and nose, Cavinee leaves his playful ways behind when he expresses how he owes everything to his doctors and the American Heart Association (AHA).
Without funding from the AHA, Cavinee said new medical advances, such as the one that saved his life, wouldn’t be made.
So when Cavinee heard about the Heart Walk being held at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, he knew he wanted to participate.
The Fayette County Heart Walk, sponsored by the AHA, will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. and is an annual fund-raiser held in an effort to raise money and focus attention on the seriousness of heart disease and stroke. The AHA claims 927,000 Americans die each year from cardiovascular disease.
One million walkers are expected to participate in more than 600 events across the country this year, according to an AHA press release. More than 500 people are expected to walk in Fayette County, said Jill Kula, co-chairperson of the local event.
Kula said this year’s goal is to raise $100,000. Last year, Fayette County residents raised $75,000, she said, noting that 75 percent of that money stays in the area and is used to combat cardiovascular diseases and promote physical activity.
She said participants raise money by asking family members, friends and coworkers for a flat donation for walking the course, which is approximately three miles, and said the donations are then given to the AHA.
Cavinee raised a little more than $2,000 as of Wednesday and said he hopes to raise $5,000 by Saturday. In order to raise money, he wrote and sent out hundreds of letters explaining how the AHA helped him and asked for donations. He mailed the letters with a self-addressed, stamped envelope in hopes it would encourage more people to donate money. He hasn’t been disappointed.
Checks for $10 to $100 come in regularly, sealed in white envelopes with hearts on them. Some people send a note with their donation, oftentimes wishing Cavinee well, saying they are proud to support him and thankful kids like him want to help others.
He said he receives about four or five returns a day and said opening them is “just like opening birthday cards, but better.”
Cavinee also formed a walk team – Cory Cavinee’s Club – and will participate in the heart walk. But, he’ll have to walk fast, because he’s playing in a soccer game later that afternoon.
“I just wanted to do something to help the American Heart Association because they helped me,” he said.
Moved by Cavinee’s gesture, Joseph Carei, owner and chef of Caliegh’s Restaurant in Uniontown, will host a dinner at the Stone House to raise money for Cavinee’s walk team. The dinner will be held Friday evening. Carei said a few seats are still available and said reservations can be made by calling 724-437-9463.
Anyone who wants to donate money to the AHA through Cavinee’s team can go to www.heartwalk.kintera.org/fayettepa. For more information about the Fayette County Heart Walk, go to www.americanheart.org.