The DiCarlo Family and the Chargers lucky charm

It’s a game plan this burly football coach never expected to pull out of his play book: “coaching” his tiny newborn son in the most important plays of his life. That’s what San Marcos physical education teacher Roger DiCarlo and his wife Nicole are doing in their daily visits to the hospital. Their son Travis was born with the left side of his heart severely underdeveloped, and at two months old, he’s had his first open heart surgery. The family is looking forward to the day they can take Travis home for the first time.

Since Travis’ birth in late October, the DiCarlo's have called the Ronald McDonald House of San Diego their “home away from home.” They can sleep just a hundred feet away from where Travis is at Rady Children’s Hospital, rather than spend hours driving back and forth to their home in Temecula. Nicole DiCarlo, a first grade teacher, can keep in touch with family and colleagues through our Wi-Fi access while Travis is napping in the hospital. She’s just steps away from Travis’ side if she needs to get there quickly.

The DiCarlos are big Chargers fans, and the team’s winning streak started just after Travis’ birth. Every Sunday, Roger puts new Chargers garb on his son. Little Travis may not know it yet, but he’s got the Ronald McDonald House cheering for him—with staff and volunteers doing all they can to take care of the basics for Nicole and Roger so they can care for Travis. He’s even got the San Diego Chargers punting and kicking for him and for other Ronald McDonald House families through our fundraiser, www.SDKicks4Kids.com! See page 10 for more info.

Roger says, “We really feel so lucky to have a place like the Ronald McDonald House. The staff and volunteers have made us feel so comfortable as we go through the most difficult time of our lives.” The DiCarlo's have a blog you can follow for updates: www.teamtravis.info. We’re rooting for you, Travis!

“It is so nice to be able to focus on our son’s care and not worry about a place to sleep or getting a warm meal.” –the DiCarlo's

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Travis Gary DiCarlo

Travis Gary DiCarlo, first son of Roger and Nicole DiCarlo, was born at San Diego Kaiser Hospital, October 23, 2009 with a Congenital Heart Defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, or HLHS. The short explanation is that Travis was born with only half of a heart. In order for him to live, a series of three operations were planned.

Due to an infection, Travis had to have an additional open heart surgery to insert pulmonary artery bands on October 29, 2009. He had his Norwood Surgery on November 21, 2009. He was sent home on December 14, 2009 from Rady's Children Hospital of San Diego after spending his first 52 nights of life in the hospital.

After being home for several months, Travis was due to for his next surgery in the plan, the Glenn procedure. But the life of a cardiac kid can change in an instant and life doesn't always go as planned. Due to the anatomy of his heart and some rhythm issues, Travis had what the surgeons called Norwood part 2. They replaced his Sano Shunt with a bigger one, enlarged his pulmonary arteries and installed a pacemaker. This surgery was performed on May 3, 2010. Travis went home on May 17th, 2010.

Around Travis' first birthday in October his cardiologist detected some narrowing in his pulmonary artery and ordered a heart cath. The heart cath showed extensive narrowing in his aorta and his pulmonary artery. On February 17, 2011 Travis had his 4th open heart surgery. He was doing well with recovery until he suddenly went into cardiac arrest on Friday (2/18). After two hours of CPR Travis was placed on ECMO (a heart/lung bypass). Although his heart did begin to beat again on its own, his brain was damaged during the whole ordeal and he lost all brain function. We had to say goodbye to our beautiful boy on Saturday, February 19th. We miss our boy terribly.....