By Katie Curley
Staff writer
July 10, 2009 12:13 am She's already endured three heart surgeries. But as Dawn Frost prepares for her fourth, she is focused on the positive and banking on a long future that awaits. The 37-year-old Frost, who grew up in Merrimac, was born with a rare congenital heart defect called Ebstein's anomaly, also called Ebstein's malformation. Technically, it's a heart defect in which the tricuspid valve is abnormally formed. But Frost explains it more simply: Her heart's too big. Frost, the volunteer coordinator for Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity who now lives in Kensington, N.H., traveled to Minnesota on Sunday for what will be her fourth open heart surgery in less than 10 years to repair the faulty heart valve. The surgery was originally scheduled for yesterday, but has been delayed for up a to week while she recovers from a tooth abscess. "I'm emotionally prepared for this," said Frost in an interview before leaving for the Mayo Clinic at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minn., which specializes in her condition. "My intent is to be positive and learn and try to show people, 'Look at what you can do.'" A typical tricuspid heart valve has three "flaps" or leaflets, according to the American Heart Association. In Ebstein's anomaly, one or two of the three leaflets are stuck to the wall of the heart and don't move normally. Often, there's also a hole (called an atrial septal defect) in the wall between the atria, the heart's two upper chambers. Because the tricuspid valve is malformed, it may leak, causing some of the blood pumped by the right ventricle to go backward through the valve with each heartbeat. Frost's heart problem was detected at birth. But it wasn't until she was 6 that an echocardiogram confirmed the actual diagnosis. "When I was 25, I started passing out as my heart muscle got too big for my chest," Frost explained. Her specific case is particularly difficult because her right ventricle and atrium are not in the same place as they would be in a healthy heart, she said. "It's a complicated case," she said. "But the doctors keep saying I am contributing a lot to research." Frost underwent her first surgery in 1998 at Children's Hospital in Boston. A second surgery followed just eight months later, also at Children's Hospital, which resulted in severe complications. She made her first trip to Minnesota in 2005 for her third surgery. But, doctors recently discovered her mechanical valve is stuck open and not functioning properly, forcing her to return to Minnesota this month to replace the valve. If the surgery is successful, the valve could last as many as 10 years before needing to be replaced once again. Frost's husband, Eric, and mother, Candie Benjamin of Merrimac, accompanied her on the trip. At home, Frost goes to a local New Hampshire hospital for her care and works part time at Habitat for Humanity. She is a member of Unity on the River church in Amesbury. For her fourth surgery, she is relying on the support of the community as well as positive thinking to make sure she remains in the right place mentally. A fund to help with medical expenses has been established at The Provident Bank in Amesbury. "I am lucky in the sense I have people all over the country praying for me, and knowing that has been comforting," she said. "I visualize friends and family wrapping me in a blanket of love. I need to be smothered in blankets." Frost is also focused on life after this latest surgery, which could include a new pet — a donkey — which she said she grew up around and has always wanted, and possibly entrance into massage school to help other people coping with health complications. "I don't feel it's my time," she said, adding the donkey is something she has set her sights on. "I have to live for that." With new developments being made in stem cell research, Frost also remains hopeful a more permanent fix may be discovered. "I have to shake the doom and gloom off of me," she said. "Risks increase with each open heart surgery, but I have a strong heart, and that is definitely in my favor." ¬¢¬¢¬¢ The Dawn Frost Heart Surgery fund to help with medical expenses has been established at Provident Bank, 5 Market St., P.O. Box 37, Amesbury, Mass. 01913.
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