SPOKANE -- Did you know one percent of all babies are born with a congenital heart defect?

That may not sound like a huge number initially, but that's thousands of babies each year born without a heart that works like it should.

Many of these defects are not genetic. Doctors don't know why they happen, and they could happen to anyone.

We'll tell you the story of a Isaiah Myers, a young boy born with one of those defects, who has already gone through more than most of us could ever imagine.

Isaiah Myers

He's one tough cookie, though and he has a great support system.

On first impression, you'd never guess the spunky six year old has a complicated birth defect.

He's like any other child, he loves to play outside with his little brother and simply, loves life.

But Isaiah tires more easily than most kids his age.

"Can we move to a house with no stairs?" He asks his parents sometimes when his heart starts acting up.

For this little guy, climbing the stairs can be like climbing a mountain.

That's because of a congenital heart defect called tricuspid atresia single ventricle, which basically means Isaiah was born with half a heart.

Isaih's defect was diagnosed when he was still in the womb, some heartbreaking words his parents Kirsten and Rick never imagined they'd hear.

"I was thinking in the back of my mind, the doctor has to be wrong," Kirsten tells us. "He has to be wrong. That can't be happening. Things like this don't happen to babies."

But, doctors were able to make the Myers feel better about what was going to happen by telling them that some operations would save his life and allow Isaiah to play like any other child.

The doctors certainly had some reassuring words for the Myers, but still, they knew it'd be a rough road ahead.

Come delivery day, though, the Myers were ready. And so was an impressive team of doctors.

"We had his surgeons there, his cardiologist, I can't even tell you how many people on the nursing staff," rembers Rick. "It was pretty amazing to see them work. You know, you see these kinds of things on tv shows, but all of a sudden it's wow, they're all here for us."

Isiah underwent his first open heart surgery when he was just two days old. He's had two more since then, and too many minor heart procedures for Kirsten to even count.

"He's incredible. He's so tough, such a trooper and so resiliant," Kirsten says. "He bounces back really quickly. He's now getting to a point where he understands what he's been though and what goes on with his body. He handles it incredibly well."

Isaiah's understanding actually helped his parents realize it was time for another heart procedure.

He was due for a check up in April, but Isaiah started getting tired, really easily, so Kirsten took him to see his cardiologist early, who found a narrowing in a tube that keeps blood flowing efficiently through Isaiah's body.

So, we followed Isaiah into the operating room for his heart catheterization procedure. It's something everyone knows must be done, but it's still a somewhat scary event for the entire family.

Even on procedure day, little Isaiah Myers is his happy self. He's such a naturally active little guy they have to give him some medicine to slow him down a bit.

Picture of Isaiah's heart in the operating room

It's definitely no fun, but Isaiah and his family are no strangers to a hospital room. The heart catheterization he's about to have will likely be just another knotch on his belt.

After a quick pre-op chat with Dr. Carl Garabedian, Isaiah's cardiologist, it's time to prep Isiah for the OR. It's painful to watch, and one of the worst parts of the day for the tough little guy.

Meantime, Dr. Garabedian gets ready for the operating room as well.

Pre-op tests show Isaiah may have a narrowing in one of his arteries, which is slowing his blood flow and making him tired.

The plan for the procedure is to run a catheterization through Isaiah's veins and arteries and make a repair.

"With new techniques we can actually put balloons or stents and fix some of the minor problems that can be repaired," Dr. Garabedian says.

In Isaiah's case, Dr. Garabedian was able to use the balloon technique, inflating it inside Isaiah's body.

"This should help him," Dr. Garabedian says. "It should help that blood flow. And, when he does want to walk up the stairs he should be able to because that blood should now be able to flow much easier.

Back in the waiting room, Isaiah has a huge support system anxiously waiting to find out how the procedure went. His parents, grandparents and even his great grandfather are all there.

Doctor Garabedian is happy to share good news.

We then checked up on Isaiah just a few hours later, he was already doing better than anyone could imagine as a six year old who just got out of the operating room.

Doctors work to widen an artery in Isaiah's heart so blood can flow more freely.

Just a couple days later Isaiah was back at school and happy to report to us he could participate in PE class again.

He told us after his procedure he feels much better.

And the best part, those stair aren't looking like a mountain anymore. In fact, Isaiah jokingly tells us he could do those stairs 60 times in a row!