Ao ficar a saber que seria submetido a um transplante de coração, John-Henry, de seis anos, não resistiu a contar a ‘boa nova’ a todos os seus amigos na Cleveland Clinic Children’s, no estado norte-americano do Ohio.
“Phyllis, vou ter um coração novo! Olá! Vou ter um coração novo”, diz o menino à medida que se depara com os funcionários da instituição, num vídeo publicado pela unidade na rede social TikTok, na terça-feira.
John-Henry nasceu com síndrome do coração esquerdo hipoplásico, uma doença congénita rara que ocorre quando o lado esquerdo do coração não se forma como esperado durante a gravidez. A patologia tem impacto no fluxo sanguíneo através do coração, fazendo com que o lado direito do órgão tenha de bombear sangue para os pulmões e para o resto do corpo, ficando sobrecarregado.
A criança necessitava de vários procedimentos cirúrgicos para tratar a condição mas, quando começou a ter falência cardíaca, um transplante tornou-se a única opção, noticiou o Good Morning America.
O menino ficou em lista de espera em dezembro de 2023 e, em maio deste ano, foi encontrado um dador. A criança foi transplantada no dia seguinte, tendo ficado a recuperar no Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation. A 23 de agosto, John-Henry pôde ir para casa, onde continua a recuperar.
@clevelandclinic “I’m getting a new heart!”♥️ We won’t forget the day 6-year-old John-Henry Lee learned a donor heart was available for him. John-Henry had been waiting for a life-saving heart transplant for six months before he and his family received the news. The first thing he wanted to do after he found out was tell the caregivers who had been by his side throughout his hospital stay. John-Henry was born with a rare congenital heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome or HLHS. It’s where one side of the heart doesn’t develop correctly. The heart’s left side is too small to pump enough blood to the rest of the body. John-Henry was 5 days old when he had his first open-heart surgery with us. He had three separate operations in total to treat his HLHS. Eventually, as John-Henry began experiencing heart failure, it became apparent a heart transplant was his only option. He was placed on the transplant waiting list in December 2023. In May 2024, John-Henry and his family received the news – a donor heart had become available. The very next day, he underwent his heart transplant procedure performed by pediatric and congenital heart surgeon Dr. Hani Najm, who had also performed all of John-Henry’s previous heart surgeries. John Henry was discharged to our Children’s Rehab Hospital in July, and recently celebrated being able to finally go home one month later. John-Henry continues his road to recovery, and says he looks forward to eventually telling everyone at school, “I have a new heart!” John-Henry’s mom Sarah says, “Organ donation saved my son’s life. Without it, he wouldn’t be living right now. We’re going to take great care of this special heart, and we’re forever grateful to our donor and their family.”
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