Written by DANA ATTOCKNIE, Native American Times
Lyon quickly called her husband Brody and her mother Nanci Tankersley and bellowed the good news.
“Whitney was so excited I couldn’t tell what she was saying, she was just screaming. When she could communicate what she was saying, it was amazing,” Brody Lyon said. “It’s been just a roller coaster ride since then but a good one … It choked me up.”
Tankersley arrived home in Bartlesville, Okla. 30 minutes before she got the call, and was flown back to Little Rock by a friend with a private plane. Whitney and Brody picked up Tankersley at 9:40 p.m. on July 24 and at 10 p.m. Brody was signing consent papers for the transplant. Fifteen minutes later Liam was wheeled back to the operating room.
Liam has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which means he has half a heart with only two chambers and one ventricle. He received his new heart on July 25, the exact day of his five month anniversary of being at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. One medical team stayed with Liam and opened him up for surgery. The other medical team flew by jet to get the heart. Liam’s first incision was made at midnight and his new heart went in at 4:30 a.m. The entire surgery was complete around 7:30 a.m., and Whitney and Brody were able to see Liam at 9:30 a.m. Liam’s chest had to remain open for awhile after the surgery in case there was bleeding.
“They didn’t have to shock the heart or anything. After they warmed it up, it started beating on its own,” Whitney said. “It kind of gives me the chills.”
Several family members waited with the Lyons while Liam was in surgery and one of Liam’s former nurses also stopped by to visit the family.
Tankersley said they would not have been able to go through this without the support of family members, co-workers, and Facebook friends they may never meet. She is grateful for the generosity shown to them.
“I just can’t explain how thankful we are, and then there’s no way that we can put into words our gratitude for the donor family,” Tankersley said. “I don’t think we could ever say thank you enough. I mean there’s no way and for them to have to deal with their son … it’s just bitter sweet.”
Minutes before Whitney received the phone call about the transplant, she was watching TV in a temporary home provided by the Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock. The first thing that came on was the Brooks and Dunn song Believe, and she immediately broke down in tears. She sent a text message to her mother saying it’s “a sign,” because the family motto throughout Liam’s ordeal has been “We Believe.”
“Just like looking at him today, we got to see an x-ray of his new heart. It just makes my whole chest swell up,” Brody said. “I had literally thought we were close to losing our son and that this whole struggle was basically like torture on him; for him to go through all this and not make it. That’s how bad it was starting to get, where we’d run out of options.”
Liam’s kidneys are now working better, his oxygen levels improved, and his body color is a normal pink. Next the physicians will decide if he needs work on his trachea. The family has been told that Liam may need another transplant when he’s 10 or 12, unless the heart grows with his body. It’s unsure when Liam will go home, so the family is deciding on where to enroll Liam’s sister Cheyanne, 6, for school.
Cheyanne said she just wants to hold her baby brother. She formed a heart with her hands when Liam was being wheeled into surgery, and has been in Little Rock with her brother for five months too.
“She’s been through so much and sacrificed so much to do this with us … I’m going to cry thinking about it,” Brody said. “She’s given up everything just like all of us. I just want her to have a brother and him to get to play with his sister. The normal life again we always wanted.”
The life of Liam has exploded on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Love-Liam-Lyon/137992366273067. Entries continued to crescendo once news spread about his new heart.
Whitney said since their motto has always been “We Believe,” if anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation that’s what they need to do - believe.
Brody said they are available to help anyone through the same situation. He said, “Our life has just changed. It’s almost like the whole nightmare is over for us; it really is. We’ve been so uptight and agitated. I can’t even put into words how hard it is to be in this situation.”
Liam’s family does not know who Liam’s organ donor is and they may never know, but they understand how difficult it must have been to lose a child then decide on whether to donate the organs. They express their gratitude to not only Liam’s donors, but also to all donor families.
“I can’t even put it into words how incredible the whole thing is, and now to see him, I mean I described it like he just hit the ground running. That heart, I mean it’s not over yet, but his body just accepted it … and now it’s like he’s got a new shot at life. He’s got a normal functioning body,” Brody said. “He will, hopefully, be able to do everything he was meant to do. It’s just so nice, because I felt so bad for him. He’s been through so many surgeries, just so much and he was running out of strength. As a parent, it’s just a horrible process to watch and for him to make it out of that; it’s just the greatest thing ever.”
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