RAISING HEART AWARENESS; MOM GIVES STUDENTS WORD ON HEART ILLNESS.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Three days after the birth of their son, Debbilyn and David Day learned of the heart condition that would affect their baby's health for life.

Nothing could have prepared them for the news that their son, who looked perfect when he was born, was suffering from congenital heart disease, a potentially fatal illness.

``My husband and I had to mourn for the perfect child that we thought we had,'' Debbilyn Day said. ``It was very traumatic.''

A heart murmur worried doctors, who conducted more tests and found that little Jeremy had six different defects. The most serious was a condition called tricuspid atresia.

``He would have died in several weeks if they didn't do the surgery immediately,'' Day said. ``He was very fortunate.''

Jeremy was just 3 days old when surgery was first performed, and he had a remarkable recovery. But a second surgery when he was 6 months old left him with a myriad of complications.

He was hospitalized for two months and during that time suffered a stroke, and brain and nerve damage, and developed an eating disorder. Recovery took a year.

``You never think that your child would ever have to go through so much,'' Day said.

Now, as her son prepares himself to enter kindergarten next year, Day is preparing to educate other children about the disease and the limitations Jeremy faces. Activity must be limited, he takes daily medication, and he's more susceptible to illness.

``It's something that he's going to live with for the rest of his life,'' Day said. ``For him there's no quick fix.''

On Friday, Day attended the Jump For Heart fund-raiser at North Park Elementary School, where her older son, Ryan, is enrolled. She told kids a little bit about Jeremy's disease.

Later she watched as children jumped rope to collect pledges for the American Heart Association. It was the first time the new school has participated in the event.

``I want to make the children aware that heart disease also affects young people and infants,'' Day said. ``I think that they can relate more to heart disease if it affects one of their peers.''

A small portion of the funds raised at the event will go toward studying congenital heart disease.

On behalf of her son, Day also wrote the governor, asking him to bring recognition to the disease, which affects 32,000 infants each year and is considered the most common of all birth defects.

``I was part of a letter-writing campaign,'' said Day, who is a member of the Children's Health Information Network.

Many babies die from congenital heart disease because it is not detected in time, it is too severe to treat, medical intervention fails or donors are unavailable should a transplant be the only option, Day said.

On Jan. 24, Davis signed a proclamation and joined officials from 36 other states in declaring Feb. 14 to be Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Day.

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Photo: (color) North Park Elementary was jumping Friday, as kids skipped rope to help the American Heart Association. Jonathan Bos, 9, was eager to jump right in.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News