(WIBW) - A lot is said about how diet and exercise can prevent heart disease in adults, but every year, thousands of children are born with heart conditions they couldn't do anything to prevent.

Tanner Brown was one of them.

Mom Laurie and dad Don recall labor lasted all of 11 minutes, and almost immediately doctors could tell he had a heart murmur.

Further checking revealed Tanner had tetraology of fallot. His condition included a hole in his heart and a coronary artery 40-percent too small, not getting enough oxygen to his lungs.

Don and Laurie were told to take him home and when he doubled his birth weight, he'd need a surgery.

At seven and a half months, Tanner underwent surgery to close the hole and enlarge the artery.

Dr. Kenn Goertz, a pediatric cardiologist with KU Medical Center, says surgeries on children that young aren't uncommon these days. He says the sooner a repair can be made, the better it can be done and the better the outcome may be.

In children, Goertz says, repairs are driven by the desire to allow for normal growth and development. To that end, he says, they are often temporary fixes. A valve in a two year old, for example, won't have the size sufficient for a ten-year old or a teenager.

But research is making new strides all the time, which Tanner is counting on! Now 8-years old, he may need another procedure one day. For now, though, he is a bundle of energy, playing baseball and challenging his brothers on the Wii.

"There's not a day that goes by that we don't think how lucky we are," Don said.

Tanner and his family will be honored guests at the American Heart Association's annual gala fundraiser. It's Saturday, Feb. 20 at Topeka's Ramada Hotel and Convention Center. Tickets are a $150 donation. Call 785-228-3435 to learn more.