heart4jake.org Young Jake Schron is finally home.
By Carol Ann Benanti/Staten Island Advance
on April 09, 2013 at 11:01 PM, updated April 10, 2013 at 7:33 AM
Jake Schron leaves Montefiore Medical Center Tuesday after recovering from a successful heart transplant.
The 23-month-old toddler, who suffered from a congenital cardiac defect, received a heart from an anonymous donor last month.
On Tuesday, following a 19-week stay, Jake was discharged from the hospital.
On his Facebook page Jake and his mom, Shannon, could be seen strutting down the Bronx street where Montefiore Medical Center is located, the health care facility where he underwent a six-hour surgery less than a month ago.
The young boy braved a battery of tests, biopsy results, the monitoring of medication levels, numerous blood draws and checks for fluid around his heart.
The near miracle became reality following a mega-campaign, “Heart for Jake,” that included fundraising and extensive use of social media. More than 350 people attended a party at Adriana’s on Feb. 15, in partnership with the Carl V. Bini Memorial Fund, that featured a Â$10,000 prize drawing.
Jake had been a patient at Montefiore for 100-plus days when, on March 23 at 8:45 p.m., his father, Andrew, and mom, got the call — a donor heart had been flown in.
Doctors Daphne Hsu and Samuel Weinstein, and a team of surgeons, got right to work, and after a long night had Jake’s new heart pumping to capacity.
The grateful Schrons said the donor child, their “hero,” will live on through Jake. They quoted Shakespeare: “We can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.”
The Schrons, also the parents of 3-year-old twins Courtney and Mackenzie, have had a hard time of it. Andrew has been in and out of the hospital after a bone marrow transplant he underwent to combat his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Then Jake was diagnosed with incurable end-stage cardiomyopathy.
Shannon is a special-education teacher at PS 373 in New Brighton and Andrew is a special-education aide. The supermom balances her husband and son’s health issues along with the needs of her daughters on one income.
Funds raised were earmarked for medical bills as well as the mortgage and other basic necessities with which the family is struggling.
Now that Jake has received his new heart, it will be a long road to recovery and the couple asks that all continue to pray and show support for Jake as he continues his battle to return to his family.
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