SUPER COOPER

Next week, when Tracie Adams crosses the finish line, the work will just be getting started.

She’ll go right back to her duties: making sure the race runs smoothly, gear is readily available and that the runners are comfortable, too, after they finish. Although her heart may still be pounding as she works, it’s the heart of a local 11-year-old that is the reason Trade’s there.

That 11-year-old, Cooper Fontenot, is the inspiration and namesake for the Super Cooper 5K, rounding the corner into its 10th year Saturday. The race features a 1-mile fun run followed by a 5K, with refreshments, music and awards presentations afterward.

John and Ashley Fontenot, Cooper’s parents, started the event as a way to give back after their experience during Cooper’s infancy. Shortly after the Houma boy’s birth in November 2005, nurses noticed signs that Cooper’s heart was in distress. Doctors discovered he had transposition of the great arteries, a rare birth defect in which the two main arteries leaving the heart are reversed.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the transposition of the great arteries changes the way blood circulates through the body, creating a shortage of oxygen in blood flowing from the heart to the rest of the body. Without an adequate supply of oxygen-rich blood, the body cannot function properly. Untreated, an infant can die.

The disorder occurs in approximately 1 in every 3,300 babies in the United States, affecting 1,250 each year, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control.

Cooper was transported from Lafayette to Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans the day after he was born. John said there were no signs Cooper had the problem while Ashley was pregnant, and the news floored them.

“It’s one of those things you kind of maybe read about in the paper or you see a news story on it, or maybe there’s a TV special on that talks about it. You never expect it to be you, so you’re never prepared for what you’re about to face,” John said.

At just 9 days old, Cooper went under the knife. Doctors performed open-heart surgery to re-route his arteries. John and Ashley stayed with Cooper as much as they could, hoping for the best. However, they still had to care for their son Remy, who was 22 months old at the time. While John and Ashley stood watch over Cooper, grandparents, cousins and aunts cared for Remy.

“It was very difficult not only to see Cooper in the condition he was in, but we were still kind of new parents, and we couldn’t be a parent to either of our children,” John said.

Doctors gave Cooper a six-to-eight week recovery time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) after the surgery.

The Fontenots resigned themselves to spending Christmas at the hospital with their baby boy, even reserving a room at Tulane Medical.

While the adults involved had one plan, Cooper, not even a month old, had different ideas. He was recovering at a remarkable rate, blowing away the nursing staff, who dubbed him “Super Cooper.”

John and Ashley left the hospital a little over three weeks after surgery, half the projected recovery time.

The Fontenots would spend Christmas back home, family fully intact.

“We had [Remy]. We were able to all be together, which we hadn’t been able to do. It was one of the best Christmases ever,” John said.

John and Ashley wanted to find a way to help other families with similar experiences. They came up with the Super Cooper 5K, which includes one run in Lafayette and another in Houma. All proceeds are gifted toward families that have children in NICU.

Money raised in Houma goes toward Terrebonne General Medical Center’s fundraising foundation. The TGMC Women’s Center invoices the Foundation for TGMC for additional gift supplies as needed. When a baby enters the NICU, the family receives a gift basket that includes diapers, baby wipes, gas cards and other goods, including a personalized note from the Fontenots.

Paul Labat, Director of the Foundation for TGMC, described the efforts of Cooper’s parents as “amazing.” He estimates that John and Ashley are the largest single donor over the four years the foundation has existed. So far, the Fontenots have raised more than $115,000 from their nine races.

“They’ve helped 1,500 families,” Labat said. “It’s just amazing how much they’ve

been able to help the community. And the community supported them, that’s the other great thing.”

John said there is a particular value to the gas cards in the baskets. The $25 cards give parents more opportunity to visit the hospital to be with their children, which John believes is critical to improving NICU babies’ health. According to Kellie Brunet, RN, childbirth educator at TGMC, the gas cards can make all the difference, particularly for families tight on cash.

“Everybody comes with a unique situation, and for some families that $25 means the ability to come see their baby an extra day or two, depending how far they are from the hospital,” she said.

Volunteer Tracie Adams’ son, Luke, was helped by the foundation. Adams was suffering from preeclampsia, which results in high blood pressure during pregnancy. Doctors had to deliver Luke at 27 weeks, about two months early.

The premie’s brain, which controlled his sleeping pattern, was underdeveloped. Luke had sleep apnea – his breathing stopped – causing him to enter into a deep sleep or “spell.”

Adams would visit the NICU four times daily and would wake in the middle of the night, anxious to know if Luke has been spell-free. When she called TGMC’s NICU, the nurses would take the time to assuage her fears.

“They would be so kind and wouldn’t make me feel like I was aggravating them; they would stop and answer and tell me everything I needed to know. They would tell me that I could call back at anytime,” Adams said.

Kerrie Redmond, RN, director of the Women’s Health Center at TGMC, credits her nursing staff for the compassionate care they provide to the infants fighting for their lives and their families.

“Our NICU crew is very sensitive to our families, our babies. And they tend to get very attached. They love to see those babies growing up and eventually moving out of our NICU and being NICU graduates,” she said.

In addition to the Women’s Center staff’s support, Adams received one of those baskets from John and Ashley. Redmond said a big part of those baskets’ value is the emotional lift knowing they aren’t alone.

“It really helps when you’re faced with the challenge of being in the NICU with your child. It’s a scary thing. Then you get this nice gesture from a stranger,” Adams said in agreement.

After 48 days in the NICU, Luke went home, a moment Adams calls “nervous and exciting.” Fortunately, he had no additional spells. Adams has since participated in every Super Cooper Run in Houma since 2011, doing whatever she can to help the Fontenots help more families like her own. In fact, one of her friends has since had a baby in TGMC’s NICU – another family connected to Cooper’s family and his race.

“It was so funny, after I talked to her and kind of assured her that the nurses are great, he’s in great hands; the next thing I came out with was, ‘You’re probably going to get something from this organization called Super Cooper,”‘ Adams said. “She was like, ‘I just did! It’s so nice!’ Now I’ve got her coming to the race this year.”

This year, Luke is a healthy 5-year-old kindergartener with no complications from his time at TGMC. Adams said her son has an understanding of what he went through, and he has met the nurses who took care of him. Cooper is 11 years old and had a stent procedure in November 2014, but can do just about anything his peers can, save for play tackle football. While that did not pass with dry eyes, according to his father, Cooper still plays other sports. His favorite sports right now are baseball and soccer. And he will be out there Saturday, a day where running will be his favorite activity.

“Every day of his life, he loves it. I really think it has to do with what he experienced. The kid knows how to enjoy life, and we can learn a lot from him, that’s for sure,” John said.

The Fontenots – John, Ashley, Cooper (center) and Remy – started the Super Cooper 5K, now in its 10th year, to provide support to families with babies in TGMC’s NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) Cooper underwent open-heart surgery at nine days old. Now 11, he plays baseball and soccer.

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Cooper Fontenot runs at the race named after him.

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