Written by At 5 years old, William Staley Olesen is a ball of energy. He loves Nintendo, NASCAR, Minnesota sports and talking about becoming a firefighter someday. Watching him run around, laugh and play, it would be hard to know just how much he has already been through. William received a heart transplant when he was 10 months old after doctors discovered, before he was born, that he had a rare condition called heterotaxy syndrome, which caused severe abnormalities in his heart and other organs.
His parents, Katie Staley and Betsy Olesen, said their journey began during a 20-week anatomy scan while they were living in Fargo. “We were so ecstatic that we were having a little boy,” Olesen said. “And then just when our midwife came in, and you could tell something was up, and she just told us right away.” Further testing in the Twin Cities confirmed William had heterotaxy syndrome, a condition that can cause organs in the chest and abdomen to form abnormally or be misplaced. Staley said William’s condition was complex. In addition to problems with his heart, he was born with malrotation in his intestines, webbing in his intestines that required surgery when he was 7 days old, and a tethered spinal cord that later required surgery. William was delivered at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and then transferred to Children’s Minnesota for specialized care. Staley said one of the moments she remembers most from the day he was born came when she first saw him. “What really I remember is the moment I got to see him, and they rolled me back into the room, and he just grabbed my finger, and he looked directly in my eyes, and he just, like, was completely calm,” she said.
Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, And people for your life.
Isaiah 43:4
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