Source: Eyewitness News 9
By ANDREA BLANFORD
GREENVILLE, N.C.- It would be any parents' worst nightmare- knowing your child might not live to see their first birthday. One mother from Greenville experienced just that, but two weeks ago her nine month old baby girl received a life-saving heart transplant. Nine on Your Side's Andrea Blanford went to Duke University Hospital in Durham where every tiny heartbeat is a huge triumph.
It's amazing how strong you can be when you have to.
"She's a strong little girl,” said Latlisia Faison. “I would never imagine that a child could go through as many things as Bobbi went through and still plays and enjoys her day like nothing has ever happened to her."
Latlisia Faison's daughter Bobbi was born last September with Hypo Plastic Left Heart Syndrome- there was only one pumping chamber in her heart. "When we first saw Bobbi, she was very ill, on a ventilator, very sick and it appeared that she was declining rapidly,” said Bobbi's surgeon Dr. Jake Jaquiss.
He says it's a common heart defect, but Bobbi's malfunctioning heart was not strong enough to keep her alive. "We would have said measured in weeks maybe months at most,” said Jaquiss.
Carolina Donor Services spokesperson Dwaine Cooper says a new name goes on the organ transplant list every ten minutes. Sickness does not discriminate. Cooper says the need varies from the elderly to the very young, and anyone in between. "When I speak to high school students, I tend to let them see that your peers are waiting too," he said.
Cooper says usually someone waiting to receive a life-saving transplant has to wait one to three years but little Bobbi only had to wait six months.
"June 13 we get a call that they had a heart for her and that was the most amazing moment knowing that my baby had a second chance of life,” said Faison.
It's a bitter sweet realization. "When we transplant a baby that means someone else has lost a baby,” said Jaquiss. And it all happens in less than work day. Cooper says the heart has the least amount of survival time outside the body- only four to six hours between recovery and transplant surgery. "They're at the height of their grief because they've lost a loved one but then on the end of that realm you have a family at the height of elation for having received the gift of life in such a short span of time."
"I already knew that there was a purpose and a plan for her,” said Faison.
Even a surgeon says it's miraculous how resilient children like Bobbi can be. "If they're given a chance and supported, even children who are inches from death can recover completely and have a very normal quality of life,” said Jaquiss.
With every heartbeat, doctors say Bobbi is getting stronger. "It's amazing,” said Faison.
Carolina Donor Services statistics show about 18 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant. Right now in North Carolina, there are more than 3,500 patients waiting to receive the gift of life.
If you would like to learn more about how to donate, just visit this link for Carolina Donor Services: http://www.carolinadonorservices.org/
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