PRINCESS OF THE HEART
AT FOUR YEARS of age, many a young girl
dreams of being a princess. For Remi McCrite,
being chosen as a princess to represent the
Kentuckiana Heart Walk means much more. It’s
literally a celebration of life, a success story that
proves the sassy preschooler overcame not one
but three life-threatening heart issues at just four
months of age.
The McCrites are originally from Kentuckiana,
but patriarch Zach McCrite’s job took them to
Oklahoma, where Brittany McCrite prepared to
deliver the family’s first baby.
“As a newborn, she weighed nine pounds, two
ounces,” Brittany says. “We thought we had a
healthy, large, slept-through-the-night, wonderful
newborn. As life went on, she was sleeping a lot.
She was choosing sleep over eating. That threw
up a red flag. Then she started to get sick when we
would feed her, her bottles. In October of 2015,
after multiple doctors’ appointments, I demanded
that some tests be run, and it was discovered that
she had three holes in her heart.”
82 EXTOL : AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019
It’s not uncommon for newborns to have small
holes in their hearts, but they usually repair
themselves quickly after birth. Remi’s diagnoses
were more serious than originally believed, and
her parents wouldn’t take “she’ll be fine” for an
answer. As it turns out, baby Remi had a ventricular
septal defect (VSD), the most common type that
requires surgery if it doesn’t repair itself; a patent
ductus arteriosus (PDA) that causes abnormal
blood flow between arteries connected to the
heart; and a patent foramen ovale (PFO) –– a more
serious hole in the heart that didn’t close all the
way. If not corrected all three defects could cause
serious issues through adulthood and even death.
“After that, we were kind of in a whirlwind
and were told that she would have to have open-
heart surgery as a four-month-old,” Brittany says.
“Remi’s VSD was so large, there was no other
option but surgery.”
On Nov. 10, 2015, the family entered Oklahoma
Children’s Hospital under the care of Dr. Harold
Burkhart. “They said ‘Give us hours. You’ll see