Ivan Applin, a 10-year-old boy whose family lives in Toledo, Ohio, underwent a successful heart surgery to close holes that were messing up blood flow.
Going to the University of Michigan's (UM) C.S. Mott Children's Hospital for his surgery, Applin was skeptical. He was worried that doctors from the Ann Arbor hospital would turn his heart away from his beloved Ohio State Buckeyes.
Laughing, Applin's mother, Jennifer, told the UM Health Blog: "He asked if the Michigan doctors were going to make his heart love University of Michigan instead of Ohio State."
The blog indicated Dr. Ronald Grifka, a pediatric cardiologist at UM, assured the ardent Buckeyes fan that could not happen. Recently approved by the FDA, the surgery will eventually allow Applin to resume playing soccer, his favorite sport.
According to the blog post, Applin was adopted from Russian and was born with atrial septal defect, which would cause his heart to enlarge as he got older. Enlarged hearts can increase a person's chance of stroke. The surgery Dr. Grifka performed involved no incision in his chest, but involved a catheter reaching the boy's heart through a vein in his leg.
Dr. Grifka used the catheter to inset a Cardioform, which is designed to close the holes caused by atrial septal defect, into Applin's heart. He was able to walk on his own the same day he underwent surgery and went home with his family the next day.
"We were glad Ivan could benefit from this procedure at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. Technology is continuing to evolve to give us greater options that reduce the need for surgical procedures and minimize risk of complications," Grifka said in the blog post.
While the Applins may always root against the Wolverines, they will always have a place in their hearts for UM.
"He's been here almost five years," Jennifer Applin told ESPN. "So as soon as he started learning English, we were teaching him to say, 'Go Bucks.'"
