Little Cordie Much Better After Heart Surgery

Do you ever feel like things aren't going your way? Maybe things at work aren't great, you might be having car troubles, or, God forbid, you've gone a few games without putting the puck in the net?

Well kids, it's time for a little perspective. Imagine you have a three year old daughter that looks like this:



Now, imagine doctors tell you that your daughter has a faulty chamber in her tiny heart, and the only way to fix it is to have open heart surgery. Otherwise, it could give out at any time.

In the grand scheme of things, don't those everyday problems seem a little less important now?

This little angel is Cordelia Kmetz, or Cordie, who is the daughter of Candi and Timmy Kmetz. Timmy started playing goalie for Dawg Nation last summer, but his season was cut short after just a few games when he had to have surgery to repair four hernias.

This was not Timmy's first operation...far from it. He was diagnosed with bone cancer in his leg when he was a teenager, and has had 35 surgeries in order to save the leg and lead a normal life. They must have worked; his Dawgs I team just won the Edge Cup in the highest division, given to the league champion. He plays at least three nights a week, and is a total hockey junkie.

And you can bet the house that he would repeat every one of those 35 surgeries again, if it would save Cordie from having to endure an open heart procedure. You readers with kids out there- wouldn't you do anything to keep your child from having to go through something painful? Of course you would.

But this is the real world, and Cordie had to have it done in order to grow up as a normal, healthy little girl. So last Tuesday, the Kmetz's put their daughter's life in the hands of the unbelievably talented surgeons at Children's Hospital in Denver.

It took probably the longest three hours in Tim and Candi's life, but Cordie came through with flying colors. The bad chamber was fixed, and she did so well that she was able to come home in three days, instead of the seven to ten days they were expecting to keep her. She's resting comfortably at home, and the prospects of a normal life are terrific.

Well, as normal of a life as possible, when you have a dad that's a goalie...