OZARK, Ark. — The City of Ozark proclaimed July 21 as Skyler's Day to welcome home Skyler Belt after a year in the hospital.
Skyler's mom, Brittany Quincey, learned that her son had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome while pregnant.
"The left side is smaller than the right side," she explained.
Skyer's Grandma Sherry Corder Rogers said he was two months old when he had his first open heart surgery. They got a call 20 minutes afterward learning he went into code blue. "We walked in and they were all doing chest compressions, on a baby with the heart the size of a quarter," Rogers said.
The family said Skyler had a stroke when he was three. After going through three surgeries, they knew he would need a transplant one day. Then he got sick in 2022.
"We took him to the doctor for strep throat. But we never even dreamed we were gonna be at Children's Hospital for almost a year," Rogers said.
The family took Skyler to Arkansas Children's Northwest where he weighed 42 pounds and was having medical issues. They say he gained seven pounds in four hours. Staff checked on him and decided to fly Skyler to Little Rock with a suspected blockage because his cardiologist is located there.
"He had fluid in the abdomen. And I found out that his heart was failing," Quincey said.
Skyler would spend 348 days in a hospital awaiting a heart transplant. Yet despite the tubes and wires following Skyler closely in the hospital, so did his fun.
"Our room became a toy room. Yep. And three truckloads home we got here," Rogers said.
Skyler's toys only grew as the city of Ozark came to learn his story. Tracy Pruitt Fate said she had wanted to create a "rock snake" for Ozark. It would have painted rocks in a row and she would move it every week to have the town's youth involved. She was stuck looking for a name but didn't hesitate to name it Skyler's Sneaky Snake when learning of his story.
"I think it's been very good. The more people have found out about it, the more they've done for Skyler," said Fate. At the time of writing this story, the snake has grown past 400 rocks which has helped the town learn of Skyler's story.
Among all the gifts and after a year in the hospital, it was the gift of a heart that had Rogers and Quincey in tears.
"Skyler is still Skyler, but the heart just helps him with his body. He looks like a different kid," Quincey added.
That heart of a child can now continue to play with a family the size of a town.
"We have no family here except me and my grandkids and great grandkids. And now we've got a whole huge family. I'm thinking that maybe Thanksgiving we will all bring potluck my yard," Rogers said jokingly.
Skyler will spend the next year recovering from his transplant, but his family says they're more concerned about learning how he's a normal kid. Rogers said she was going to stop Skyler from using the microwave because of his pacemaker. He turned around and raised his shirt at her and said, "I don't have a pacemaker no longer."
They're also looking forward to next year when they can learn more about their donor and potentially meet them.
"We are so blessed. All the community support we've had here, all the nurses, everyone, the doctors, everybody just have made us a part of their home," Rogers said.