Sanctus Real lead vocalist Matt Hammitt and his wife, Sarah, recently brought home their newborn baby boy. This baby comes home story is made even more special because little Bowen Matthew had to overcome many things to make it home.

The Hammitt's took their 10-week old baby boy home recently from the hospital for the first time since he was born Sept. 9. Bowen, whose name means “small victorious one,” was born with a serious heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), and has gone through heart surgery, an infection and other complications since being born.

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome occurs when parts of the left side of the heart do not develop fully. HLHS occurs in up to four out of every 10,000 live births. The syndrome comprises 8 percent of all cases of congenital heart disease. It is one of the top three heart abnormalities to cause problems in the newborn. HLHS occurs slightly more often in boys than in girls. In many children, HLHS occurs by chance, with no clear reason evident for their development.

The common treatment for this defect is surgery which seems to be the choice that little Bowen's doctors made for him. Thank God that his condition was detected and treated.

Now that he is home we at Bellaonline wish him a long and healthy life. What a blessing for his family.

One more ironic thing about this situation is that the latest CD for Sanctus Real is entitled "Pieces of a Real Heart" and was relased eight months ago.


His parents write in their blog at https://bowesheart.com, “We thank God for the gift of waking up at home this morning with baby Bowen at our bedside. We’ve been praying so long for these moments. Taking care of Bowen at home will take include a lot of work and lack of sleep, but having all five of us together is worth it.”