as they escortal lex down to the operating room, it is still only a gamble whether this will work.know for certain is he'll be in there for the next 5 1/2 hours. but in a way, alex parents' have been waiting all hi short life for this moment. the day that newborn alex came home from the hospital, he had already faced a lifetime of challenge. just four pounds, four ounces, alex arrived two months premature and spent the first month of his life here in the neonatal intensive care unit of the st. john hospital. >> i felt that i didn't do something perfectly during the pregnancy. i had two healthy kids in the beginning and all of a sudden our third child has all these issues and we didn't know what was going on. i don't know. i was overwhelmed. >> reporter: but at least his parents knew then he was going to make it. what they did not know at first was what he was still up against. scans would show that little alex had a heart condition and his vision appeared to be compromised. anticipa and then there was the matter of his hearing. alex failed this hearing test that all newborns get an