Kendal Daniels

Lifesaving surgery for congenital heart defects

Kendal's medical team helped her kick congenital heart disease

Kendal Daniels, a 15-year-old soccer player, began experiencing increasingly frequent episodes of dizziness and rapid, irregular heartbeats. Concerned, her family took her to Medical City Dallas for evaluation with Dr. Bruce Bowers, an interventional cardiologist. She was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia (v-tach; a rapid, abnormal heart rate).

Kendal was given a cardiac monitor to wear and the results showed she had experienced more than 500 beats of v-tach and ventricular fibrillation (a more rapid and chaotic heartbeat, often resulting in death) over the weekend. Emergency staff immediately hooked her up to an echocardiogram and found she was in near-constant v-tach. She was admitted to the ICU and seen by a number of pediatric and adult specialists.

Kendal was only 15, so the children's hospital was the appropriate place for her. But she was also 5 feet, 9 inches tall and suffering from a condition that overwhelmingly affects adults over 40.

Medical City Children's Hospital was the exact right place for Kendal, said Andrea Daniels, Kendal's mom. She definitely needed a pediatric unit and would have had a totally different experience in an adult hospital. There are specially trained staff (Child Life Specialists) who can relate to kids and have great compassion for them. They had animal therapy, played games and explained things in a way she could understand.

On the other hand, the adult doctors deal with this condition a lot and so have the expertise. One reason Kendal was able to do so well is that Medical City Dallas has adult and children's specialists. She was able to get the best care possible.

Kendal underwent a radiofrequency ablation in January 2016 with Dr. Rajeev Joshi, a cardiac electrophysiologist at Medical City Dallas Hospital. Since her minimally invasive procedure, Kendal was released back to normal activity in September 2016 and made the JV soccer team.