Healthy Colorado: Colorado Springs toddler receives life-saving heart transplant

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – A spunky little girl has a new lease on life. And her parents are grateful that her rare diagnosis was resolved thanks to organ donation. They're hoping everyone will consider signing up to donate if they aren't already. And remind people of their harrowing story for National Donate Life Month.

"We've got Struen who is just an energetic little ball of joy that just gets to have a second chance of life and isn't wasting a single moment of it," says dad, Zach Carter.

A second chance, the Carter family is beyond grateful to have. Zach and Heather didn't know if they would ever see their daughter play like a normal kid.

"She was there for 381 days," says mom, Heather Carter.

That's how long little Struen was in the hospital.

"We think she has some type of heart defect," says Heather.

After she was born, doctors noticed a heart murmur. And at just 4 days old, she was struggling to breathe and was rushed to Children's Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs. That's where Struen was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Which means she only had one chamber pumping blood into her body. She was airlifted to Children's Colorado in Aurora, home to one of the highest-volume heart centers in the country. Less than two weeks later, she had her first open-heart surgery.

"I don't even know what we thought when it started happening," says Heather. "We were just looking for every light at the end of every little tunnel. So it was more of like the marathon game instead of a sprinting game. I think we were just trying to focus on like one surgery, one step at a time."

Leaning into their faith is something Heather and Zach had to do. Especially as they balanced raising other kids and work. Struen went into heart failure and was added to the transplant list right before her second birthday.

"My daughter is in the hospital, like she's essentially fighting for her life," says Zach.

Struen's doctors say it's much harder to find a perfect match for an infant's heart. She was waiting for about a year to find a heart that was the right size and a blood match.

"The importance of donation really can't be overstated," says Struen's doctor, Dr. Matthew Stone, Children's Hospital, Congenital Cardiac Surgery. "We have an increasing number of children with end-stage heart failure and while our surgical palliation strategy have significantly improved with that improvement in survival, um there are an increasing number of children that will need heart transplant."

An answered prayer for the Carter family, but also a bittersweet call.

"It was immediate joy, mixed with immediate sadness, says Heather. "What helped us is we actually talked to a donor mom very early on in the process, that she donated her son's organs, and she said you can't look at it as like one child died for your child. You have to look at it as like you took tragedy and they turned into into a miracle." 

On July 4, 2025, Struen received a new heart. She was up walking the next day, out of the hospital, and back home in Colorado Springs a few weeks later.

And that's where normalcy entered Struen's life for the very first time. And she's starting to recognize all she's been through.

"Like she knows her scar," says Zach. "And she is like my new heart."

Struen will be four in June and coming up on almost a year with her new heart.

Her parents find peace knowing they have countless days ahead spent at the park and out of the hospital.

"I just love being able to come to the park and relax and watch the kids have fun and play," says Heather.

Struen's medical team hopes she can grow into an adult with this heart.

April is National Donate Month, and the Carter family encourages everyone to consider signing up.

According to Donor Alliance, one person can save up to eight lives through organ donation and save and heal up to 75 lives through tissue donation.

Zach and Heather also want to thank Levi's Legacy for all their love and support during Struen's health battles.

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