Chatham Chandler came into the world on Sept. 24, 2024, in Columbus, looking every bit like a healthy newborn. No prenatal scans had flagged anything unusual. Her family had no reason to worry.
Then a doctor heard something.
The sound was faint — an abnormal murmur picked up during routine post-birth exams. Doctors initially brushed it off as a common, benign murmur. But a week later, Chatham’s pediatrician listened again and thought it sounded different. That instinct sent the family to the Heart Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where pediatric cardiologists Dr. Wesley Blackwood and Dr. Andrew Dodgen took a closer look.
At two weeks old, Chatham was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot, a rare congenital heart defect. The condition involves a combination of structural problems in the heart, and in Chatham’s case, that meant a hole between her heart’s two lower chambers and a narrowed pulmonary valve that was restricting blood flow to her lungs. The only fix was open-heart surgery.
Her family spent the following weeks knowing what was coming.
When surgery day arrived in February 2025, cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Joshua Rosenblum was prepared for a five-hour procedure. He finished in three. Four days later, Chatham went home.
Her mother, Alexandria, says you would never be able to tell she had surgery.
Chatham still visits Children’s for routine checkups, more than a year removed from the operating table. She is, by her mother’s account, full of energy and sass. And she has something new to look forward to: she is getting ready to become a big sister.
B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
