A few thunderstorms this evening. Mostly clear skies late. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

A few thunderstorms this evening. Mostly clear skies late. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.

Four-year-old Tatum James Atherton climbs a playground ladder Wednesday morning July 20, at Fire Station Park in Homosassa. In March the child required open-heart surgery to repair a hole in his heart. He and his parents live in Homosassa.

Joyce Atherton holds her son Tatum, 4, Wednesday, July 20, at Fire Station Park in Homosassa. Her son had open-heart surgery in March to repair a hole in his heart she says was the size of a nickel.

J.R. Atherton stayed with his son during his heart-surgery recovery, saying he even slept in the hospital bed with the child to provide comfort to the 4-year-old.

Tatum James Atherton yells into a playground toy Wednesday, July 20, at Fire Station Park in Homosassa. He had open-heart surgery in March to repair a hole in his heart.

Four-year-old Tatum James Atherton climbs a playground ladder Wednesday morning July 20, at Fire Station Park in Homosassa. In March the child required open-heart surgery to repair a hole in his heart. He and his parents live in Homosassa.

It’s news no parent wants to hear: Your child has a nickel-sized hole in his heart and needs surgery to repair it.

“To hear, ‘Something’s wrong with his heart,’ was really scary,” said Joyce Atherton about her 4-year-old son, Tatum.

To hear the doctor explain the procedure, how they’re going to open his little chest, go through his little breastbone, then sew him back up and leave him with a zipper-like scar he’ll have for the rest of his life, plus not being able to play contact sports when he grows up, that was terrifying.

“I was a total basket case,” said Tatum’s dad, J.R. Atherton.

During his initial visit to a cardiologist in Ocala, Tatum thought the echocardiogram was fun, getting the sticky electrode patches all over his chest and then getting an X-ray.

His parents, however, were still in shock, trying to process what this all meant.

Joyce Atherton holds her son Tatum, 4, Wednesday, July 20, at Fire Station Park in Homosassa. Her son had open-heart surgery in March to repair a hole in his heart she says was the size of a nickel.

“From birth, we knew he had a heart murmur and he’s always been small, but he’s the most active little boy ever, always moving,” his mom said.

“He’s got mud in his blood – he likes to mud bog,” dad J.R. Atherton said. “He loves to go hunting, loves to fish. He rides a Honda 70 four-wheeler and drives the golf cart. You’d never know something was wrong with him.”

It was during a routine appointment with his regular pediatrician in March that the doctor suspected something was wrong with Tatum’s heart and sent them right away to a cardiologist.

On March 7, the day before Tatum’s scheduled open-heart surgery, the Athertons arrived at AdventHealth for Children in Orlando.

As they met with the surgeon, Dr. Brian Kogon, and reviewed what was going to happen the next day, Mrs. Atherton cried, she said, and her husband fought off tears.

Tatum just shrugged and said he was OK with it, “as long as they fix it,” he said.

He was also thrilled to have ridden an escalator for the first time.

J.R. Atherton stayed with his son during his heart-surgery recovery, saying he even slept in the hospital bed with the child to provide comfort to the 4-year-old.

The morning of the surgery, as they prepped Tatum, a nurse gave him what they called a “cocktail” (sedative), and Tatum said, “You better give my mom one, too.”

“We prayed with him and then they took him from us, and we went to the waiting room,” Mr. Atherton said.

Mrs. Atherton said she had turned everything over to the Lord and felt at peace, resting in her faith.

Then 10 minutes before the surgery was set to begin, Dr. Kogon came into the waiting room and said there was a change in plans.

“We have a new procedure, and we think Tatum is the best candidate for it,” Kogon told them. “We’re going to go in through his right side with a little incision, fix him up and he’ll be just fine.”

“At that point, I’m really sweating and worrying like a father ain’t never done before,” Mr. Atherton said. “I wanted to know the (outcome) percentages, and he said 99.9 percent ... and no side effects afterwards and that he wouldn’t do it if he thought it would harm him.”

Kogon told the Chronicle that most congenital heart defects like Tatum’s require open-heart surgery to repair.

“So, we’re always looking for ways to do surgery in a more minimally invasive fashion,” he said, adding that AdventHealth for Children is one of the few places in Florida, possibly in the nation, that can do this surgery.

“We use this approach as much as possible. That being said, it can only be used for a small subset of our open-heart operations,” he said.

Kogon also said Tatum’s particular heart defect, an “atrial septal defect,” a hole between the two top chambers of the heart, combined with an abnormal drainage of the right pulmonary veins, fit the criteria for this type of surgery.

He said kids with this heart defect often don’t display any symptoms, “but we operate on them as children to protect them from the consequences that will occur many years later if it’s left untreated,” he said. “These consequences are primarily heart failure and lung disease from all the extra blood circulating through the heart and lungs.”

He said the ideal timing for this type of surgery is when kids are 3 to 6 years old, because they’re so resilient and recover quickly.

Resilience could be Tatum Atherton’s middle name.

Three days after his surgery, he was ready to go home.

Tatum James Atherton yells into a playground toy Wednesday, July 20, at Fire Station Park in Homosassa. He had open-heart surgery in March to repair a hole in his heart.

“The last thing he did before we left the hospital, he went into the bathroom and pulled the red (emergency) cord, and a bunch of people came running,” Mr. Atherton said, laughing.

Since he’s been home, he’s done what he’s always done, from playing with his dog, Craig, to swimming in a pool his dad made from a 500-gallon horse trough.

He has also put on weight and has gone up two sizes in clothes.

And he’s looking forward to turning 5 on Aug. 8 and starting kindergarten at Lecanto Primary School a few days after that.

“We’re so thankful for everyone involved,” Mrs. Atherton said. “If we hadn’t found it, they said he might’ve had a cardiac arrest as a teenager.”

“He used to run on seven cylinders,” Mr. Atherton said, “now he’s running on all eight.”

Nancy Kennedy can be reached at 352-564-2927 or by email at nkennedy@chronicleonline.com.

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