PALO ALTO, Calif., May 24, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --Friday, May 25: Families, surgeon and cardiologists are available to meet media from 1 pm to 2 pm at Packard Children's, 725 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304.
When 18-year-old James Spencer received his new heart at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford on Saturday, May 6, not only was his life saved by the ultimate gift from another family, but he also became the third young adult in an extremely rare three-day trifecta of heart transplants--including an extraordinarily uncommon double-organ heart and liver transplant.
"It was remarkable," said David Rosenthal, MD, director of the pediatric heart failure program, "We normally perform around 15 heart transplants a year, and now we did three in three days."
Thursday, May 3
It all started with a 4:30am phone call in Amanda Sechrest's dorm at St. Mary's College. The 20-year-old freshman, a veteran of five open heart surgeries, was on a downward spiral. "She had lost 45 pounds and was sleeping all the time," said her mother, Lisa. In cardiac failure, Amanda was also suffering from liver dysfunction--a complication of her congenital heart condition. The call delivered news of a lifesaving gift made possible by a tragic death: a donor heart and liver. After nearly 12 hours in the Ford Family Surgery Center, she went to the hospital's cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) with a new heart, a new liver and a new chance at life.
Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/triple-transplants-3-days-3-hearts-at-packard-childrens-hospital-2012-05-24
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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