Posted: Jan 01, 2014 5:36 PM Updated: Jan 02, 2014 5:21 AM Posted by Carolyn Roy – bio | email
11- year-old Anthony Herman of Marshall, TX received a life-saving heart transplant Wednesday night.
MARSHALL, TX (KSLA) –
One day after his 11th birthday, an East Texas boy received a life-saving gift of a new heart.
Anthony Herman, from Marshall, has suffered since birth from aortic valve stenosis, a narrowing a major valve that restricts his blood flow. He’s has had open heart surgery nine times. The doctors fixed him every time, until they couldn’t fix him anymore.
We have followed his story over the past year, the Children’s Organ Transplant Association helped the family raise the $60,000 needed to pay for the transplant. Then, the wait was on.
In October, Anthony was moved from status 7 on the transplant list to 1A, making him among the highest priority patients waiting for a new heart.
Word came of a heart becoming available Wednesday morning, and he and his family headed to the Children’s Medical Center in Dallas for the procedure.
According to the Anything for Anthony Facebook page, Anthony went into the operating room around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The family received word a Wednesday evening that the donor heart was “good,” and the procedure got under way. The procedure takes around 8 hours to complete. According to an update on the Facebook page, Anthony was on bypass by 11 p.m. and the new heart had arrived at the hospital.
At last check, the update on his Facebook page read that Anthony was out of surgery and heading to the ICU to recover. It also stated that Anthony’s new heart was “beating on its own.”
There was a prayer meeting in the sanctuary of Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Marshall at 7 p.m., and a continuous prayer vigil for Anthony starting at 8pm this evening and going through until 8 p.m. Friday.
Anthony’s story inspired a campaign consisting of “heart hands” for Anthony, posted on the Anything for Anthony page in support of the courageous young boy and his family.
In a touching observation passed on from the transplant coordinator, it was noted that Reunion Tower in Dallas was lit up with a heart on Wednesday evening, instead of the usual glowing orb.
You can visit the page and get updates here.
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