Possibilities - Children's Hospital Central California

Talk about luck - Mason Mariscal is a veryfortunate boy.But in March of 2007, he needed more than luck.He needed the watchful eye of his preschooldirector, Cynthia Delgado, who saved his life whenhe stopped breathing.The tiny 3-month-old was in the middle of hispreschool naptime when Cynthia noticed he had turnedcompletely gray. She and one of Mason’s teachers startedCPR, called 911, and notified his mom, Kristy Mariscal.“They told me to come to the daycare center, there wasan emergency and I needed to be there right away,” saysKristy. “I arrived and a fire truck was there, I knew it waspretty bad.”By the time Kristy arrived Mason had been resuscitated,but the toddler was listless and unfocused. Heimmediately locked eyes on his mom when she pickedhim up, but had a seizure on the way to the ambulance.The medical team at Children’s conducted diagnosisprocedures on Mason and a Respiratory Syncytial Virus(RSV) test came back positive. Mason was placed inthe Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. For the next five daysdoctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and many otherprofessionals treated Mason and helped him avoidcomplications from infection. All the while, Tim andKristy stayed at his bedside.“Everybody’s so caring, you feel like they care about yourchild as much as you do,” says Mom. “They listen to youand ask lots of questions. It’s their goal to figure outwhat is going on.”There was more luck for Mason. During all of his testing,doctors made a fortunate discovery that might have goneunnoticed. The tyke had a heart condition called WolffParkinson White Syndrome, or WPW. It is a dysfunctionin the heart’s electrical conduction system, which canmake the heart beat too fast or at an uneven rate.Now Mason sees Children’s Cardiologist KennethRouillard, M.D. at the Hospital’s Pediatric SubspecialtyA Life Saving ExperienceThe Players: Children’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit as well as Cardiologist Dr. Kenneth Rouillard and the PediatricSubspecialty Office in MercedMason’s father, Tim Mariscal, met Kristy and Masonat their local community hospital. In a very quick seriesof events, the family found themselves at Children’sHospital Central California by the following day.“We had been there before with our oldest daughter,”says Dad. “I knew we were taking him to a good place.If there was anyone who could help him, it wouldbe Children’s.”Office conveniently located in Merced. Dr. Rouillardmonitors Mason’s heart using an electrocardiogram(ECG or EKG), which measures electrical activity.With a little more luck Dr. Rouillard believes Masoncould outgrow the condition within his first year. If thatdoesn’t happen it can be surgically repaired.When he’s not exploding with energy in his bouncer,he’s busy watching his seven and five year-oldsisters Caitlin and Lauren run around. He also loveswatching Seal, the British pop singer, perform on thefamily’s television.“When he starts getting fussy we’ll put Seal on and hestops crying, his attention turns to him,” adds Mom.Who knows, Mason could grow up to become a musicidol. With the kind of luck he has, the possibilitiesare limitless.Photo SponsorSponsored byBill & Linda Smittcampand Family