Mayo Clinic’s heart practice: Inspiring hope for 100 years

Hello, my name is Kinser.

Kinser is the wildest little boy that I know of.

He’s on the go.

When he was born, perfect. Just like any other little baby I’ve seen, I guess.

Healthy 8 pounds, 4 ounces.

I like to play pitcher and first base.

It’s through the experience of hundreds of thousands of heart diagnoses, procedures, innovations, and research collaborations over the past 100 years that enables Mayo Clinic to help provide trusted answers for patients like Kinser and their families.

The chest x-rays came back that his heart was a little more enlarged, and they said it was heart related.

They took him into the cardiac NICU, performed a whole bunch of tests, and, I would say, within a couple hours, we knew what the problem was. He was diagnosed with transposition of the great arteries.

What they did was an arterial switch procedure.

Well, when I was five days old, I got heart surgery.

I had a baby brother that actually had heart surgery in Rochester when I was a year. In the ’70s, you know, things weren’t as advanced they are today. And he didn’t make it, you know. He lived to be 13 days old. And that’s all I could think about is — Oh my gosh, I’m going to lose my baby.

Both my parents had heart surgery in Mayo. We knew he was in the best possible place that he could be. If it weren’t for them, he wouldn’t be here.

To me, he can go do whatever he wants to. Be a little kid.

He’s doing great.

I just tried to do a back flip off the board, and I did it. Wow, it was fun.

He’s my little buddy.

When I grow up, I want to take over my dad’s job. They saved my life.