William Winston

On August 29, 2005, the day Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, William Winston was at Children's Hospital in critical condition recovering from open heart surgery. Six days earlier, Drs. Joseph Caspi and Timothy Pettitt, cardiothoracic surgeons at Children’s Hospital, successfully performed a complex valve replacement surgery, and William was recovering in Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). He was one of 12 PICU patients in various stages of heart surgery preparation or recovery who could not be discharged, primarily because they were susceptible to infection. His parents, David and Wanda, watched the storm through the windows of his hospital room while their seven-year-old son, half-conscious, lie in the clear, plastic tube of an isolation bed with a spider web of IVs and monitors attached to his body.

“I just felt confident most of the time because we had just gotten through the surgery and everything went so well,” says David. “I thought, you know what, if we can go through that we can go through another storm, figuratively and literally.” Drs. Caspi and Pettitt were able to secure space for their patients at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge. Acadian Ambulance transported the remaining 10 PICU patients, including William, to Baton Rouge. Our Lady of the Lake allowed Drs. Caspi and Pettitt to stay in hospital rooms so they could care for their patients. William stayed at Our Lady of the Lake for about a week before he was discharged. His doctors stayed at the Baton Rouge hospital for more than a month until all their patients were discharged.“We did not lose a single patient,” said Dr. Caspi. “All of our patients did well and left us in very good condition.”

Drs. Caspi and Pettitt returned to Children’s when it re-opened in October 2005; and they’re performing life-saving heart surgeries again on a regular basis. In 2007, they performed more than 450 life-saving heart operations. “For us I think the most rewarding thing is we see families coming back,” says Dr. Caspi. “They have a high degree of confidence and trust in the hospital so they bring their patients back.” Except for the scar running vertically down his chest, William looks and acts like any other boy his age. He’ll need annual check-ups and may need another surgery one day to replace a valve. Until then the third grader is building an impressive academic resume and dreaming of being a Major League pitcher one day. “He was not only honor roll,” his father says proudly. “He got an award for being the best in his homeroom.”

Children’s Hospital is a non-profit organization; in its 53 year history Children’s has never turned away a child in need.
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