To My Son on His 25th Birthday

From ACHA: We are reposting this letter shared five years ago on our website by ACHA Ambassador and former ACHA Board Member Martha Pauly on her son Andrew Paukstitus’s 25th birthday, with this updated note from Martha:

Andrew Paukstitus lived an excellent 30 years and 5 months. He filled those years with about 80 years’ worth of life. He died January 10, 2016, peacefully, in the loving care of his mother Martha, his sister Megan, and our always there guy, Jack. Donations can be made to Andrew's D.C. Metro Congenital Heart Walk team, Team Pauk. Click here for a direct link or visit the D.C. Metro Congenital Heart Walk webpage and search for Team Pauk.

August 10, 1985 to January 10, 2016.

To My Son on His 25th Birthday

By Martha M. Pauly

To my son Andrew on his 25th birthday,

There is no Hallmark card for this but through 25 years and 7 open heart surgeries you have:

• Proved that three-quarters of your heart is stronger than most folks’ entire heart
• Made me learn the anatomy and physiology of the heart (wish I’d paid attention in high school biology!)
• Never, ever made it on the growth chart at the pediatrician’s office (and now you’re 6’1"!)
• Spent every major holiday in the hospital at least once.
• Set off the airport security alarm because of the metal in your little three-year-old chest.
• Had more EKGs, MRIs, CT scans, X-rays, echocardiograms, IVs, cardiac caths, and needle sticks than most folks have in two lifetimes!
• Thought poison ivy was called poison I.V., until I explained the difference.
• Lobbied on Capitol Hill in the icy rain, two months after open heart surgery!
• Flew home from Boston (surgery #4) with Barbara Bush surrounded by Secret Service agents with wires in their ears and wrap-around sunglasses
• Met Princess Diana in an elevator in Georgetown Hospital (really!)
• Made some nurses cry (only the ones who deserved it)
• Loved the great ones—there are many!
• And have the best sister in the world, who always brings a ray of sunshine to the ICU, ER and countless hospital stays…and who had her 16th birthday party in the cafeteria at Children’s Hospital and never complained.

And you:

• Learned to drive a boat really fast for competitive water skiers
• Learned to snowboard
• Learned to kneeboard
• Went bowling two weeks after open heart surgery
• Traveled to LA, NYC, Maine, Disneyworld, Ocean City, Bethany Beach, Daytona, the Bahamas and Lake Anna, VA.
• Got a tattoo—Ewww
• Got another tattoo with your sister’s and my initials—Awww
• Proved the doctor was wrong when he said you would not make it to 15
• Proved surgeons at two major hospitals wrong when they said you would not survive the seventh surgery to get a new valve
• Proved your cardiologist was right for pushing for it anyway
• Proved your surgeon was right for doing the surgery anyway

ON TO THE NEXT 25 YEARS!