A Story Of A Father’s Love
Father's Day & Our Family Campaign
As we celebrate the strength and love of fathers everywhere, we continue our Family Campaign — a heartfelt initiative dedicated to supporting families in need throughout our community.
What better way to honor the father figures in your life than by making a gift in their name? Your donation will help provide essential resources, support services, and hope to families who need it most.
Together, we can give hope to hearts everywhere — one gift at a time.
A Father By His Son's Bedside Through Every Battle
Deron’s heart journey began the day after he was born. What should have been a joyful time for Kevin and his wife quickly turned into a nightmare. A doctor approached them with news they never expected: their newborn had a serious heart defect—Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA)—where the main arteries of the heart were reversed. If left untreated, Deron wouldn’t survive.
Just 13 days old, Deron underwent his first open-heart surgery to buy him some time. It was only the beginning. At 18 months, he faced three complex heart surgeries at once—something no person, let alone a baby, had undergone before. Against the odds, Deron pulled through and was even featured in a medical textbook for the groundbreaking procedure.
Over the years, Deron endured multiple operations, strokes, a brain surgery, and a long list of complications. He lost mobility on his left side and had to relearn how to move through intensive therapy. Through it all, Kevin remained by his side—even when it meant sleeping in hospital chairs or making solo trips across the state.
In 2019, everything changed again. Deron’s heart became enlarged after an accident he experienced while on blood thinners and he needed to be transferred to NYP-Columbia. At 12am in the pouring rain, Kevin followed Deron’s ambulance from upstate to NYC. It was there that the doctors at Columbia informed Kevin that his son needed a transplant—immediately.
As a father, Kevin was overwhelmed. He watched Deron battle complications, suffer delirium, and fight for his life while the family’s financial strain grew heavier by the day. That’s when Harboring Hearts stepped in. “If Harboring Hearts wasn’t there for us, I don’t know if I would have a house for Deron to live in right now.” Harboring Hearts provided hotel accommodations near the hospital, allowing Kevin to stay close to Deron without the crushing stress of affording a place to sleep in New York City.
Kevin recalls moments of fear—like waking up at 4 AM not knowing what the day would bring, or driving through the night in the pouring rain to be with his son. But through it all, he knew he could call Harboring Hearts. “They are my angels. You’re helpless during these moments, and at least having a place to rest my head gave me strength for the battle ahead.”
Today, Deron is doing well. He’s no longer on oxygen, he graduated high school on a scooter with pride, and he’s started a small business using a 3D printer to give back to others—including creating an anatomically correct heart for the hospital that saved his life. This spring, Deron is looking forward to swimming in the backyard pool with his nieces—a simple joy made possible by extraordinary resilience, community, and compassion.
Give hope to hearts this father’s day by donating in honor of the Dad in your life!
