2 Babies youngest living heart donor and recipient
Published: February 2, 2006
Two babies spending their first few months of life, in desperate need of a miracle. Two- month-old Kayla Richardson needed a new heart. Her father Robert says, “She was hooked up to an echo machine to keep her alive and so they said that a transplant was her only option.”
Just a few beds over at Columbus Children’s Hospital, three-month-old Jason Wolfe needed a lung transplant . His father Mike says, “The odds weren’t real likely that he would even receive a donor in time. It was just heartbreaking.”
But then came news that would change the fate of both babies. Word that an infant heart and lungs had become available from out of state.
Setting the stage for a remarkable chain of events, a domino transplant. To increase Jason’s chance of survival he got both the donor heart and lungs. Surgeons then transplanted his healthy heart into baby Kayla. Making the duo the youngest domino transplant patients in history.
Dr. Tim Hoffman from Columbus Children’s Hospital says, “It really is a quite rare event because everything has to fall into place.”
And after almost 12 hours in side-by-side operating rooms, Jason and Kayla have emerged with their new organs and a special bond.
Kayla’s mom, Rebecca, says, “I’m close to Kayla because she’s my daughter. But I also feel close to Jason because it feels like we’re connected now.”
Both families say they are thankful to the medical staff that helped save their children but most of all for the family that made a decision to donate organs while enduring such a painful loss.
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