Meet Our Patients
At 8 months old, Correy Nehring was diagnosed at St. Louis Children’s Hospital with complex congenital heart disease consisting of a hypoplastic right ventricle with tricuspid atresia.
Amanda and Armando Morales were ecstatic when they discovered they were expecting a baby in 2006. Yet the ultrasound they had when Amanda was 18 weeks pregnant squelched their joy and replaced it with worry.
McKenzi's Carmack's face has magical powers. When she widens her saucer-blue eyes to a full twinkle, and adds the toothy grin of an aspiring two-year-old, the forces mysteriously combine to draw people near her. They can't help it. Gazing into her eyes is enough to melt your heart. But gazing into her heart -- that was what really hurt.
Seven-year-old Phoenix Weaver is breathing easier these days. A car accident two years ago in her home town of Nixa, Missouri left her paralyzed from the neck down. She uses a wheelchair. Until a few weeks ago, she needed a ventilator 24-hours a day to help her breathe.
When parents talk about their child’s transplant, they’ll use words like “miracle,” “answered prayer,” or “life changing.” But when it comes to talking about the organ donor and his or her family—words are hard to find. That’s because they know their child’s life was saved at the same time another family faced a heartbreaking loss.
At less than 4 months of age, Evan Wells was the first patient at St. Louis Children’s Hospital to receive a heart transplant from a donor with a different blood type. It’s called an ABO-incompatible heart transplant. Evan has type O blood and received a heart from a donor with type A blood. This rare procedure took place on August 31, and Evan is currently listed in critical but stable and improving condition in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
Four-year-old Kallie Finn and her dad have a lot in common. They both have dark hair; they like playing Candyland; and they’ve both had a heart transplant at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
If you ask Marik Lingo about her heroes, she’ll name three. The first is her little sister Tessa, the second, her oncologist and family friend Dr. Gale, and the third is St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the cardiothoracic surgeon who performed her heart transplant.
When you look at 14-year-old Jamie Chilese, it’s hard to believe that less than two years ago, she was so sick. Today, this healthy 8th grade girl loves to spend every spare minute outside; she swims, she hunts and goes fishing whenever she can. She’s also looking forward to starting high school in the fall. But if not for her strength and tenacity, the support of her family, and the skilled medical team at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Jamie’s story might have had a different ending.
Katelyn has a defect called complete AV canal. Instead of four separate chambers, she had a hole in her heart where all the blood - oxygenated and non-oxygenated – ran together.
When two-year-old Michael Habbe checked into St. Louis Children’s Hospital, his family was expecting the fight of their lives. What they got, they say, was a miracle.
Because of the timing of his hospitalization, Quinton, still recovering from a heart transplant, would miss the annual Polar Express party at his school. As a substitute, the Child Life team decided to throw him his own party.
Thomas and Quinton share a very special bond at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Both boys used a Berlin Heart as they awaited a heart transplant.
The Bartons kept a close eye on their 11-year-old son, thinking he might be fighting the flu or something else because of a rising fever. Even their dog, Peyton, seemed to sense Tysen’s distress when she jumped on his bed and seemed to be telling everyone that something was wrong with her buddy.
