Thank to a heart transplant, A Tennessee Family will Celebrate a Very Special Valentine's Day

Cision Wire | Children's Organ Transplant Association

Children’s Organ Transplant Association

Giving Hope … Making Miracles

Bloomington, Indiana – February 1, 2012 -- February is the month to celebrate love and hearts. For the Deane family of Franklin, Tennessee, February truly is a month to celebrate hearts … and selfless gifts from the heart. Two-year-old Witt is alive, growing and able to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year because of the heart donation he received 18 months ago.

Norm and Alison Deane were blessed by the birth of their first boy, Henry Withers “Witt” Deane, on April 6, 2010. But joy turned quickly to fear when they were told he had a congenital heart defect (aortic stenosis). Witt was rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Doctors were able to repair the baby’s heart valve and Witt went home. He appeared to be thriving and the Deane family was ready to return to a normal life with their newborn and their two daughters, Riley and Ellery Kate.

A week before Witt’s scheduled two-month cardiology check up, he seemed fussier than usual, developed a cough and refused to eat. Hearing this, the cardiologist worked him into her schedule a little early and discovered that Witt’s mitral and pulmonary valves were not working properly. While the team of specialists was trying to come up with a plan, Witt went into respiratory distress and was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Read more: http://www.cisionwire.com/children-s-organ-transplant-association/r/thanks-to-a-heart-transplant---a-tennessee-family-will-celebrate-a-very-special-valentine-s-day,c9212107