Dec 21, 2013 4 min read

Glorian Cimino of Washington always told her daughter, Arianna, she has a “golden heart.”

But she didn’t realize just how true that was until the 5-year-old decided in November to donate 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love.

The reference to a golden heart was made after Arianna underwent surgery to repair Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect that involves four anatomical abnormalities.

Even though three of the abnormalities are always present, Arianna had all four. They included:

• A hole between the lower chambers of the heart;

• An obstruction from the heart to the lungs;

• An overriding aorta – the large artery that takes blood to the body is on top of both ventricles, instead of just the left ventricle;

• Hypertrophy – the muscle surrounding the lower right chamber is overly thickened.

Tetralogy of Fallot results from low oxygenation of blood due to the mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood in the left ventricle, and preferential flow of the mixed blood from both ventricles through the aorta because of the obstruction to flow through the pulmonary valve.

Glorian didn’t know anything was wrong with her infant daughter until Arianna started to turn blue during her first feeding. Arianna was transferred from St. Clair Hospital to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, where she had open-heart surgery seven days after her birth on April 25.

During the procedure, surgeons hit a nerve, and Arianna had to be intubated. It was the first of eight intubations she had during her three-month hospitalization.

Shortly before she was to be released to go home, Arianna also had surgery to remove an IV that had broken off in her abdomen because, Glorian said, it had been in for so long.

“She’s doing well,” Glorian said, and has been cleared to do everything youngsters her age enjoy.

And she does.

Arianna attends preschool, and she has fun taking photos on her mom’s iPhone. In fact, she took great delight in showing her visitor countless photos of herself and her 1-year-old brother, Grayson.

She also likes watching “SpongeBob SquarePants,” plus “Paw Patrol” and “Sam & Cat” on Nickelodeon.

And, not surprisingly, the holidays are generating plenty of excitement. This year, Glorian decided to adopt an “Elf on the Shelf.” Every morning Arianna enthusiastically bounds down the stairs to discover the elf’s new perch.

“He was over there,” Arianna said, pointing to a table, “and then he was in the tree.”

Now, she said, pointing to a wooden cross hanging on the wall, “He’s over there.”

And her Christmas list for Santa Claus isn’t surprising, either. Among the items are Wii games, Zoomer Interactive Dalmatian and Crayola Digital Light Designer.

Arianna admits, however, that she does miss her long hair just a little bit. Her hair was trimmed but once since she’d been born, and by the time she went to Gorgeous by Sorelle in Washington, her hair was touching her waist.

But after Glorian explained that Locks of Love provides hairpieces to children suffering from long-term medical hair loss, there was no doubt Arianna wanted to donate her hair.

“It’s growing back nicely already,” Glorian said.

And Arianna’s health is progressing nicely as well.

She has annual checkups with a cardiologist, and the patch on one of her heart valves is constantly monitored because as she grows, so does her heart. The patch, however, does not, and eventually it will be too small to prevent blood from leaking. Doctors can’t predict how many patch-replacement surgeries will be required.

“They are hoping to go through the groin,” Glorian said, so they don’t have to make another incision on her torso.

Glorian said once Arianna is done growing, most likely in her early 20s, she will receive either a mechanical valve or a pig valve.

“The doctors told us not to treat her any differently,” Glorian said. “There is nothing wrong with her.”