UnforgettaBull: New Lenox Girl Rebounds After Life-Changing Surgery

NEW LENOX, IL — It might seem odd, but Dr. Hamad Farhat was thrilled to see Charlotte Stoub, 9, shoot the basketball and miss "about 100 times."

It was a scene the Advocate Christ Medical Center neurosurgeon cherished—his patient, fully recovered and bounding around the floor of the United Center, shooting around with the Chicago Bulls earlier this month.

It was a moment months in the making. In June, Dr. Farhat operated on a precariously positioned nodule behind Charlotte's ear. The arteriovenous fistula, or abnormal connection that forms between an artery and a vein, disrupts blood flow and needs to be corrected as soon as possible with surgery. In a rare location in her neck, doctors had to come up with the safest way to approach it.

"This is a very rare condition," Dr. Farhat told Patch. "We see AVF a lot in the brain, and in older patients. In very young patients, to be in the neck is exceedingly rare. It’s hard to even put a number on it."

Charlotte's mother Nicole first had noticed it when Charlotte was 1 year old, and it seemed to grow right along with Charlotte. By 9, it was comparable in size to a golf ball, or small clementine, Dr. Farhat described.

"You would just look at her, and if you were really paying attention, you could see it," Nicole Stoub said. "You could see her little earlobe flickering because it would pulsate with her pulse."

Due to the rare location and complexity of Charlotte’s case, the pediatric cardiovascular team at ACH, led by Dr. Luca Vricella, referred Charlotte and her family to Dr. Farhat. Charlotte underwent a procedure in June, in which Dr. Farhat was able to close off the connection and place coils in a minimally invasive way. Charlotte went home the next day and after a brief recovery is back to her normal life.

Patient, family, and doctor reunited Dec. 6, all reflecting on Charlotte's journey from consultation to recovery. Prior to meeting with Dr. Farhat, Charlotte had been seen by an interventional cardiologist and an ENT specialist.

"I knew exactly what it was right away," Dr. Farhat told Patch.

And more importantly, he knew he could fix it.

"We have much newer technology now than we did," he told Patch. "We’ve advanced so much in the last 10 years at Advocate. I knew I had the technology and the expertise."

There was risk, though, and the strain of the unknown weighed on Nicole, and Charlotte's father Doug.

"That vein is so stretched out," Dr. Farhat said, "During surgery, if you were to nick it, the walls are so stretched like a balloon. If you get bleeding during the surgery, because she’s so little, so very, very little, you can’t afford to lose blood in kids. Arterial bleeding—that’s the risk of the surgery. That’s why they were very nervous."

Like so many worried parents in medical dilemmas, Nicole and Doug made the mistake of "Googling" it.

"We're Googling it, and holy cow," Stoub remembers thinking.

Parents of four with Charlotte as the youngest, they leaned into their faith.

"Along this whole journey, having our faith and knowing that she’s in God’s hands, and that we all have a plan for our lives, and it’s not always how we see it working out," she said, "but now looking back and seeing how things fell into place and led us to Dr. Farhat, it was seriously God’s timing."

Even the location of the nodule seemed like a disguised blessing, she said.

Charlotte underwent the procedure, spent one night in the hospital, and then was home.

"She was cured," Dr. Farhat said. "That’s it, it was done."

A simple statement for a procedure that earned Dr. Farhat a place in the Stoub family's hearts.

"Him (Dr. Luca Vricella) and Dr. Farhat are two of my most favorite human beings in the whole wide world," Stoub said. "This was not rushed. They were very heartfelt and invested in finding a solution."

The months since the surgery have been difficult on Charlotte. Downtime and keeping Charlotte's heart rate stable were essential—a difficult ask for the girl who loves Taekwondo and enjoys being on the move.

"She’s my little 'go! go!' girl—she’s always running and skipping," she said.

"That was the hardest for our little Charlotte. She wasn’t allowed to get her heart rate up."

The family was still able to vacation to the Grand Canyon—Nicole, Doug, Charlotte, and her siblings Dane, 17, senior at Lincoln-Way Central, Landon, 15, sophomore at Lincoln-Way Central, and Diem, 12, seventh grader.

"We just had to know our limits," Stoub said. "She’s my little rule follower. She just wanted to know when she could go back to Taekwondo."

But Charlotte was patient, Stoub said.

"It started with one of the last post-op appointments we had, that’s when they gave her the all-clear," Stoub said. "She was almost emotional that she finally heard the word 'yes.'"

The Stoub family and her care team were reunited at a Chicago Bulls scrimmage and coaching session earlier this month.

"Anybody who knows us here at Oak Lawn at Advocate Christ Hospital, knows the kind of challenges we have," Dr. Farhat said. " We see extremely sick patients from trauma … we know how difficult it is to work here because of the sheer complexity of patients.

'We need a lot of help. We work very hard, long hours. We sacrifice personal time, family time. Seeing her dribbling the ball, and missing the basket about 100 times, made me feel so good inside. Made it all worth the sacrifice."

Will Perdue and Chuck Swirsky were there to coach Charlotte and show them some basketball skills. The Incredibulls even made a special appearance to hype up the group, before the group was treated to a special banquet dinner before watching the game.

"The Bulls experience was over the top amazing," Stoub said. "So thankful that they wanted to do that, reunite some of those special people.

"Just such a fun way to celebrate with our friends and family. Everybody, including definitely Charlotte—perma-grin all day."