Less than three months after his third open heart surgery, Carson was recently running around Disney World "like a little maniac", laughs his mom, Dana. Carson has certainly come a long way in just four short years.

He was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, ventricular septal defect and pulmonary atresia, three very serious congenital heart defects. He had his first heart surgery at just 13 days old. His cardiothoracic surgeon is Dr. John Kupferschmid with Pediatric Specialists of Texas in San Antonio who specializes in treating these kinds of congenital heart defects.

"He has such a great bedside manner. He treats the entire family as his patient," says Dana. "I just loved the care he provided. He really understood how difficult it was to have someone else care for your child."

Today Carson is doing very well even though he will need more surgeries in the future. In the meantime, Carson and his family are taking it one day at a time. "I worry so much around the time of his surgery I'm not going to spend the next two years worrying. We live a normal life between his surgeries and we count our blessings," says Dana.

Read more about Carson's story at Mended Little Hearts of San Antonio, a support group for families of children with congenital heart defects.

Pediatric Specialists of Texas' Congenital Heart Surgery program is focused on the surgical correction of complex congenital heart defects in both children and adults and treatments of acquired heart disease in children.