‘Share your special heart’: Vernon Hills boy, 9, overcomes odds

VERNON HILLS – Vernon Hills resident Landon Olbur acts like a typical 9-year-old boy. You can find him on the flag football field, playing percussion in the school band or taking improv classes.

But when he was a baby, none of that seemed certain. Landon was born with tetralogy of Fallot, a critical congenital heart defect that includes a combination of four problems affecting the heart’s structure.

About 1,800 of the 3.7 million babies born in the U.S. each year are born with tetralogy of Fallot. Because of the condition, Landon had open heart surgery at Advocate Children’s Hospital at only 3 months old.

Now, Landon doesn’t shy away from sharing what he’s been through.

“Don’t let your special heart stop you from trying new things,” Landon shared as advice to others with heart conditions. “Do your best to be brave at the doctor because they are there to help you. Share about your special heart with your friends.”

His mom, Elaine, is proud that he’s embraced his heart journey and that he shares with others to raise awareness and hope.

“He knows it’s part of his story and there’s nothing wrong with it,” Elaine Olbur said. “His school does the heart challenge every year to raise money for the American Heart Association and he served as a Heart Ambassador one year and even got up in front of the entire third grade class and shared that he had open heart surgery as a baby to fix his heart.”

After surgery, Landon spent six days in the neonatal intensive care unit and then had an irregular heartbeat for weeks. But he was completely off any medication and recovered by the time he was five months old.

Landon continues to see his pediatric cardiologist Dr. Stephen Neuberger and goes to the Cardiac Neurodevelopment Clinic at Advocate Children’s Hospital to help with development delays that are common in children with congenital heart disease and those who had open heart surgery.

“Landon has always been a true testament of resilience and courage,” Neuberger said. “He endured more as an infant than some people do in their entire lives and he has never let it hold him back. Not only that, but he proudly shares his story to bring hope and awareness to others, which is really inspiring.”

Landon eventually will need another open-heart surgery to have his pulmonary valve replaced, a common procedure for tetralogy of Fallot patients as they get older and they need a larger valve.

Otherwise, Landon has been cleared to live life like normal. His favorite sport to play is flag football – even playing on Soldier Field through his local sports club.

He’s hoping to be a police officer when he grows up.

“You can find times that you almost forget what he went through because he’s lived such a typical life,” Elaine Olbur said. “And that sounds unbelievable because it was a very scary journey in the beginning. You go down the rabbit hole and it’s hard to see the success stories when you’re going to hospital appointments and getting medications every week. But I want families to know it can get better. Take it one day at a time.”