There is little a parent wouldn’t do to save their baby.
So when Henya Grossman and Yair Brover learned that their unborn child would not survive, the Israeli couple refused to let that be their son’s fate.
The couple began a year-long journey to save Nathaniel.
Grossman, who had previously suffered a miscarriage, said the couple was overjoyed when they learned she was pregnant with their rainbow baby. The pregnancy began smoothly.
At a 23-week ultrasound, however, the Israeli doctors found a heart abnormality.
“I was shocked,” says Grossman, 23. “It was an absolutely normal pregnancy.” At 27 weeks pregnant, the unborn baby was diagnosed with severe heart failure. Doctors told the pair the baby would not survive.
“I was afraid,” Grossman said. “I didn’t want to lose him. (But) my biggest fear was that I will give birth, and he will be alive, but he will suffer a lot and then he will die.”
Nathaniel Grossman on his first birthday. Photo by Joe Carrotta
Determined that would not be his fate, the couple left their home in Israel and made their way to New York for a second opinion.
“We can’t not fight for his life,” said Broyer, 28, of his thinking at the time.
We have to fight for his life. We have to do whatever we can to save him.”
The couple found their lifeline at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital. There doctors used a new surgery that would keep baby Nathaniel alive after birth, until he could receive a heart transplant. He was born on Dec. 6th, weighing 6lbs, 15oz.
“I was just full of love — full with love that I’ve never known before,” Grossman said. I was so happy that he was born and he was alive … even though I knew that he might die.”
According to the Pediatric Heart Transplant Society, there are more than 500 pediatric heart transplants each year in the United States. The average waiting time: six to nine months.
“The hardest part is waiting,” says Dr. Rakesh Singh, pediatric cardiologist and Medical Director of the NYU Langone Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program. “Unfortunately, there just are not enough donor hearts available for small children, and they actually are the ones who die at the highest rate waiting for a heart.”
Doctors, however, worked nonstop to keep Nathaniel alive long enough to receive a donor heart.
They used a new procedure in which they used Nathaniel’s healthy right ventricle to move blood flow throughout his body to compensate for his failing left ventricle.
Henya Grossman and Yair Broyer with their son Nathaniel on his first birthday in Nov. 2023. Photo by Joe Carrotta
“I realized we could use the right heart to carry the left function,” Dr. Susheel Kumar says. “I felt it would be safer.”
Nathaniel grew steadily, but began to get sicker as time went on.
Every day, it was a fight for his life,” his father said.
“Sometimes it was too much pain to see, but then he was smiling,” Grossman says. “In the hardest moments, he knew always to give me a smile.”
Nathaniel’s heart transplant was performed on June 16. “The heart started up right away,” Dr. Singh said. “It’s really amazing to watch. It’s like magic.”
After a few months in recovery, Nathaniel was discharged and is living in Brooklyn with his parents to be near his doctors. The couple said they will eventually return to Israel when it’s safe for their son.
Grossman said that everything about her son’s journey gave the pair hope for his future.
“He is the most amazing boy,” Grossman said. “He’s a fighter. He’s very strong.”
Watch below for a look at this incredible family!
