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As every fan knows, about two years ago
Littrell had open-heart surgery to correct a
ventricular septal defect (VSD), the most
common congenital heart
condition (A Doctor In Your House, May 12,
2000).
Although many with this problem are operated
on as children, Brian was an exception. "He
was asymptomatic: His heart size was normal,
and he was active," says his pediatric
cardiologist, Jacqueline Noonan,
world-renowned for her identification of a
multiple malformation condition known as
Noonan Syndrome. "It was my opinion that he
did not require surgery."
Littrell passed his "heart physicals" annually
until three years ago when, at age 22, a checkup revealed that his heart was
swelling. It was then that the operation was recommended.
A chance to give something back
By Brian's reckoning, it was the "perfect time" to give back. He knew from
personal experience that being a kid with a heart condition isn't easy. So he
decided to focus his charitable energy on children.
Littrell decided to make a donation to St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Ky., his
hometown hospital where he had been treated as a child. But that was only the
beginning.
Brian knew that word about his surgery would get out. Rather than deal with
rumors and innuendo, he planned to make an announcement and use the media
coverage as an opportunity to ask fans who wanted to send something to him to
instead consider supporting his charity.
"Brian's mother, Jackie, who is also his business manager, came in and explained
that he wanted to endow a fund that would be ongoing. So we set up a
committee," says Ed Wardle, executive director of the St. Joseph Hospital
Foundation. "But I honestly didn't know who Brian Littrell was or what the
Backstreet Boys were.
"Jackie asked if we would be willing to receive the mail that would come in after
his surgery, and we just said, 'Sure,' " Wardle says. "She said it would probably
be a lot. We just said 'no problem' and didn't think too much about it."
Little did he know.
Concept built on education
Although Brian had initially assumed that his fund would help pay for surgeries,
Noonan -- who joined Jackie Littrell and other physicians and nurses from St.
Joseph's on the committee -- suggested that they think in a different direction.
"A child with heart disease is going to get heart surgery, either through
insurance, a medical card, or the commission for children with special health
needs that is present in every state," Noonan says.
"No child is denied because they don't have money. "But while all of our
newfound HMOs are talking about preventive medicine, that's only been lip
service. What we really need are good rehabilitation and education programs for
children and adults."
Brian jumped right into that concept, Noonan says, "because he's very active
physically, and he knew the importance of such a program."
Weeks of discussions and planning led to a new
model program that would offer lifestyle education
-- lessons about exercise and nutrition-- and
rehabilitation to children who had heart surgery,
who were candidates for heart surgery or who
were at high risk for having future heart problems
because of hypertension, asthma and especially
obesity.
"All these children would benefit from a program that would teach them how to
improve their physical condition," Noonan says.
The concept meshed perfectly with Brian's grand goals. "The reason I started
this club was to benefit children in need, to boost kids' confidence, and to give
them a way to feel better about themselves, and to provide some funding for
research for heart deficiencies."
By spring 1998, just before Brian's surgery at the Mayo Clinic, the Brian Littrell
Healthy Heart Club for Kids was officially founded.
Prescription for kids: Self-esteem
At the suggestion of Marilyn Swinford, director of the St. Joseph's ER and one
of Brian's childhood nurses, the committee decided to use the word "club" in the
name because "these are children who can't belong to many, if any, of the other
clubs at school," Jackie Littrell says.
"These kids come to us with such low self-esteem. They have always kind of
segregated themselves from their friends. Peers can be the hardest people to
deal with when you don't function just like everyone else. They just come in with
their heads hung really low."
Says Brian: "We wanted the club to be a place where they felt they truly
belonged, and where they could learn that active is good. In most cases, a child
born with a heart deficiency would automatically think they just could not be
active."
But Brian is living proof that that's not always true.
"Brian was always active," Jackie Littrell says. "Even though I, as a mother,
sometimes worried about him being too active, I let him do his thing because it
made him happy.
"The only sport that I didn't let him play was football," she says. "I just felt it was
too much of a contact sport. I was afraid he would take a helmet to the chest
and have a cardiac arrest. But I let him play every other sport there was."
"You let me run up and down the basketball court with my tongue hanging out,"
Brian complains good-naturedly, "but you wouldn't let me play football."
They laugh about that today. But Brian's active ways "turned out to just come
back to him threefold," his mother says. He came through his open-heart surgery
with flying colors "because he was strong going in."
The mail poured in
To everyone's surprise, during the operation the surgeon not only found the VSD
but another large hole in the tricuspid valve. "We had no idea," Jackie sighs. "It's
amazing that things like that can still be hidden from all our technology."
While Brian was on the mend, the mail began pouring in. "It was then, I think,
that I finally understood what it meant that he was a Backstreet Boy," Wardle
says. "The bottom line: Over the next 12 months, we got written communications
-- letters, boxes and gifts-- from all over the world, 41 countries and more than
5,000 individuals."
Wardle estimates that about 15% of the mail included contributions. "And a
number of those folks have become ongoing contributors," he adds.
"It was precious, just precious. Little girls sending their babysitting money,"
Jackie Littrell says, "and stories that would wrench your heart."
For Brian, life is only getting sweeter. He's back on tour, active as ever. And this
fall he plans to marry his fiancee, Leighanne Wallace. (Sorry, girls.)
Heart-to-heart connections
Meanwhile, the Brian Littrell Healthy Heart Club for Kids is beating right along.
The third eight-week session has just ended, and there are now 45 "lifetime
members."
"It was awesome," says Johnna Kendall, 16, a charter member of the club. "We
would exercise every day, learn about nutrition, and just basically how to take
care of ourselves. And we really got to know each other."
Johnna, who has a condition known as tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital cardiac
anomaly that consists of four defects (VSD, pulmonary stenosis, malposition of
the aorta and right ventricular hypertrophy), has "always been pretty limited"
when it comes to physical activities. That has made her feel alienated, she says.
"But in the club, it was a lot of fun because I've never
been able to exercise like that before," Kendall says.
"Plus, it's nice to be around people who you can talk
to, and who can sit there and say, 'I know exactly
what you mean.'
"I can't talk to a lot of my friends about my heart
problem because they couldn't understand," she says. "At the club, I just felt like
I was a part of something very special. It's been the best experience of my life
so far."
The future is looking brighter for other children with heart conditions, too. The
Club is expanding into two new YMCAs in Lexington, and the plan is to spread it
to other cities across the USA.
"Our vision," Wardle says, "is that we have 100,000 children a year going through
this program in every major community in this country and in several foreign
countries."
Summer camps and reunions are also on the horizon. "We want to do what we
can to help them keep up a healthy lifestyle," Noonan says. "This isn't going to
help them if they just do it for that eight weeks."
Helping in as many ways as possible is what this endeavor is all about.
"I've known Brian since he was a baby, and he's a fine young man," Noonan
says. "It's wonderful to see young celebrities who are thinking of others."
But as Brian and his mother see it, the joy is all theirs. "The more you give the
more blessed you are," Jackie says. "We all really believe that."
For more information: www.healthyheartclub.org
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Brian Thomas Littrell ~ The Golden Voiced Backstreet Boy
- Established Jan 1999 -
