COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – An 11-year-old girl in Colorado is now able to live a healthier life after the Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora was able to perform the region’s first dual heart and liver transplant.
Gracie was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, causing her heart to have only one chamber pumping blood into her body. Before three years old, the hospital said she already had to have three surgeries. While those surgeries allowed her heart to function, they said there could still be long-term effects to the heart defect, including liver dysfunction and liver failure due to how the defect and treatments affected her other organs.
The hospital said care teams have been preparing for years to perform a dual heart and liver transplant, allowing them to be ready when the need arises.
Within one month of being on the waitlist, Gracie was able to get a heart and liver donation.
The surgery was a success, and the hospital said Gracie was discharged from the cardiac process care unit just over one month after her surgery. She is now seven months post-transplant, and they say Gracie is back at school and back at home with her family and her dogs.
They said Gracie would need an additional heart transplant in the future, but her new liver should last her an entire lifetime.
“This procedure showcases the expertise, talent and level of care Children’s Colorado provides to our patients, including those with complex medical needs,” Dr. Duncan Wilcox, Surgeon in Chief, said. “As the top-ranked pediatric hospital in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region, we are proud of our leading-edge transplant care and look forward to supporting more patients who need dual organ transplants in the future.”
Gracie’s transplant is one of 39 pediatric heart and liver transplants performed in the entire United States.
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