Jagger heads home after 548 days in cardiac care
One-year-old Jagger spent the first 18 months of his life in the hospital as Children’s Nebraska’s longest-running Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) patient in recent memory. After his mother went into labor early in April 2022, Jagger’s congenital heart condition was discovered, and his family anticipated a 6–8-week hospital stay. Instead, they remained at Children’s for 548 days. A bi-ventricular repair with Children’s Cardiothoracic Surgery team in July 2023 was the turning point, correcting his heart’s structure and function with two working heart chambers to put Jagger on the path to going home. With the care of Children’s Rehabilitation Services team, Jagger skipped crawling and progressed to standing and taking steps prior to discharge in October 2023. On the family’s final day at Children’s, team members across multiple disciplines gathered for a final “CCU Later”-themed celebration, lining the halls and sending Jagger and his parents’ home in style. Jagger stole the show by walking out of the room – important steps for a little one venturing into a big world full of possibility.
