TAUNTON, Mass. (WPRI) — A 4-year-old boy in Taunton is in need of a new heart.
Finnley Silva has been at Boston Children’s Hospital for five months waiting for a new heart. In that time, he’s received letters from hundreds across the country.
At just two-days-old, Finnley had his first heart surgery, and has had two more since then,
“I was prenatally diagnosed with him having a congenital heart defect,” his mom Emily said. “He was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. So basically, for lack of better terms, the left side of his heart never developed.”
Emily says despite everything he’s endured, Finnley is a typical kid.
“He likes robots and cars and going fast and running and you know, just being rowdy and throwing things as most four-year-olds do at this point,” she said.
But while he waits at the hospital for a heart transplant, Finnley’s family is trying to find ways to pass the time.
“The waiting is the hardest because you’re kind of waiting for the unknown. You never really know what the next minute, day, week, month brings,” Emily said.
According to Emily, Finnley loves opening mail so she shared an address where people could send things, and it has taken off.
“He opens them and goes ‘oh my goodness, look at this this!’ And he gets so excited. And then he wants to know, ‘oh, who is this person?’ He doesn’t understand that they’re kind of coming from all over the country. We’ve gotten them as far out as Hawaii,” Emily said.
She said she is astounded by the outpouring amount of love, saying it’s overwhelming in the best way possible.
If you’d like to send mail to Finnley, you can do so by addressing the card to “Finnley Silva at Boston Children’s Hospital, Cardiology Floor 8.”
