Kenny Goes to Washington

Little Kenny Murray headed to Washington, D.C. last week to do some powerful advocacy for children's health care.

The five-year-old, who loves super heroes, was one himself when he and his parents, Sue and Ken, met with federal legislators, like Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Jan Schakowsky, to share their story on June 26.

Diagnosed in-utero with multiple complex congenital heart defects, Kenny had three heart surgeries before his first birthday. His early years have been quite a struggle. But, speech, occupational, nutritional and development therapies have helped Kenny prepare for his next new adventure; kindergarten in the fall.

In just his first four months of life, Kenny's health care cost a million dollars. That was the cap for his family's commercial insurance. Had it not been for the Affordable Care Act, his parents, Sue and Ken, say they would have gone bankrupt. At a time when health care is center stage for most Americans, the Murray's story reminds us that even individuals with commercial insurance are finding relief in catastrophic health care situations.

The Chicago couple participated in the Speak Now for Kids Family Advocacy Day and were accompanied by Advocate Children's Hospital President Mike Farrell and its Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Frank Belmonte. Advocate Children's Hospital serves children across Greater Chicagoland.

Advocate Children's Heart Institute is one of the largest pediatric cardiology programs in the Midwest and performs more cardiac surgeries than any other program in Illinois. Each year, the experienced team completes nearly 19,000 procedures, including open heart surgeries, cardiac catheterizations and fetal echo, electrophysiology and echocardiography procedures.