CLEVELAND (Gray News) – A 6-year-old boy was so happy about his new heart that he had to spread the news far and wide.
John-Henry Lee, a patient at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, had waited six months for a life-saving heart transplant.
When he finally received the good news that a donor heart was available in May, John-Henry grabbed his IV pole, his mother and his two-year-old brother to march through the halls and tell everyone.
“I’m getting a new heart!” John-Henry excitedly told every nurse, doctor and hospital staff member he could find, as seen in a video posted by the Cleveland Clinic.
The very next day, he underwent a heart transplant performed by Dr. Hani Najm, a pediatric and congenital heart surgeon who had performed all of John-Henry’s previous heart surgeries.
After rehabilitation, John-Henry was able to go home this month, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
His mother said she couldn’t be more grateful.
“The organ donation saved my son’s life. Without it, he would not be alive now. We will take very good care of this special heart and are eternally grateful to our donor and his family,” she said.
The hospital said John-Henry was born with a rare congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and had his first open-heart surgery when he was just five days old.
Eventually, even after several surgeries, it became clear that a heart transplant was his only option. John-Henry was placed on the waiting list for a transplant in December 2023.
Copyright 2024 Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
