Teen survives 18-hour heart surgery, celebrates turning 15

By Yi-Jin Yu

A Texas teen is celebrating turning 15 after surviving an 18-hour surgery to repair a rare congenital heart condition.

Matthew Perez, who celebrated his 15th birthday on Feb. 18, was at a school event last September when he collapsed unexpectedly.

Texas Children’s Hospital

Matthew, pictured with his siblings, told “Good Morning America” he feels grateful to be alive after he collapsed while at a school event.

"Me and my friends were playing around and I was running, but then I started to feel very tired and off," the ninth-grader from Houston recalled to "Good Morning America." "It was like, I was gonna pass out. I could hardly breathe. My hearing was kind of muffled and all I could [see] was, like, this purple kind of haze."

Matthew credits his friends for contacting his mom Arely Perez, who rushed to his school after hearing from them.

"He is not the kid to say something's wrong with him or he feels sick, so for me to get that text saying Matthew's asking for you to come, I knew something was wrong there," Perez told "GMA."

Matthew was admitted to a local hospital and then transferred to Texas Children's Hospital, where doctors later diagnosed him with an anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery or AAOCA.

Texas Children’s Hospital

Matthew Perez, 15, underwent an 18-hour surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital to repair a rare congenital heart condition called an anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery or AAOCA.

"We had no knowledge of him ever having a heart problem. Since he was born, to us, he was a healthy baby. Everything was normal up until this happened to him in September," Perez said.

Matthew's doctor, Dr. Silvana Molossi, medical director of the Coronary Artery Anomalies Program at Texas Children's Hospital, told "GMA" that AAOCA is a leading cause of sudden cardiac arrest and death in young people, and Matthew's condition at the time was "extremely serious."

"In Matthew's case, his left coronary artery had an abnormal origin from the right side. Matthew's heart suffered significant lack of blood flow and oxygen when he collapsed at school," Molossi said in a statement. "If he hadn't been rushed to Texas Children's Hospital and gotten immediate treatment, he may not have survived."

Texas Children’s Hospital

Matthew Perez endured an 18-hour surgery to repair a rare congenital heart condition, called anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery, or AAOCA, at Texas Children’s Hospital. Matthew was able to play the guitar during his recovery.

According to Molossi, Matthew needed to be placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO machine to support his heart and lung function before he underwent an 18-hour surgery in October 2024 to repair his left coronary artery and reconnect it to the correct place in the aorta.

Texas Children’s Hospital

Four months after his heart surgery, Matthew is now back to playing both the guitar and viola at home.

"He does have a graft in his artery, but everything is improving the way that it should," Perez said of her eldest son's recovery so far. "Everybody was amazed at the hospital, like, how quickly he was healing and coming out of this situation that could have taken his life."

Today, Matthew is home from the hospital and returning to his favorite activities, like playing the guitar and viola.

"I'm so grateful to be here and so grateful that I had good people in my life who were able to help me and act quickly when I needed it," Matthew said.

His mom hopes by sharing his story, they can raise awareness about watching for sudden symptoms.

"Look out for those signs that he said -- the blurred vision, that he can't breathe, the ear muffle," Perez said. "Because at the end of the day, you never know. It could be nothing, but [it could also be] signs of something [that] might not be right."