100th child gets a new heart at All Children's Hospital

By Curtis Krueger, Times staff writer
In print: Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Four-year-old Anthony, the 100th heart transplant recipient at All Children’s Hospital, gets a kiss from his foster mother, Melody Rodriguez, as coordinator Kristin Rosenberg beams.
	[JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times]

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ST. PETERSBURG — Doctors like Jeff Jacobs and Alfred Asante-Korang work with a select group of patients: children who will die unless they get heart transplants.

When they succeed, the results look very much like Anthony, a smiling, cherub-faced 4-year-old from Hillsborough County who happily said "cheese" for the cameras at a news conference Monday.

Anthony played with toy cars and mugged for the cameras because he recently became the 100th child to receive a heart transplant at All Children's Hospital.

"I think it's very rewarding for our whole team to see the kids running around alive and playing," said Jacobs, the team's surgical director. "That means the world to all of us."

All Children's performed its first heart transplant in 1995 on baby Hunter Ratcliffe. He is now 12 and still visits the hospital regularly for checkups.

Jacobs said All Children's takes on patients who would be turned away from other hospitals because they have medically challenging conditions, such as an immune system that threatens to reject the new heart.

Asante-Korang, medical director of the team, said it's a joy to see children like Anthony become robust and happy after receiving new hearts. "They play competitive sports like everyone else; they go to Disney and take roller coaster rides like everyone else."

But as Jacobs pointed out, the stakes are high. While the children would not survive without a transplant, some do not survive with one. Of the 100 transplant recipients, 87 went home from the hospital, and 72 are still alive.

"There's nothing worse in the world than having to go tell a mother or father that their baby is dead. That's a misery that both Dr. Korang and I have shared," Jacobs said.

Some children die waiting for a heart. Others are turned away because they have other medical complications that make them ineligible to receive a new heart.

Jacobs said the staff tries to beat the odds with expertise and equipment. The hospital has machines that can keep a child alive while he or she awaits a new heart, and a staff trained to deal with the complications of transplants.

Anthony's foster mother, Melody Rodriguez, said she could not find the words to thank the doctors "because not only did you give him a new heart, you gave him a new chance at life."

However, "the other part of the story is we need to make his heart whole," said Jeff Rainey, chief executive officer of the foster care agency Hillsborough Kids Inc.

Anthony has been in foster care since birth, for reasons the agency would not disclose. Rodriguez said her family is praying about whether to adopt Anthony. Whoever does adopt him will need to know that he has medical needs and requires close attention, she said.

Anyone interested in learning what it would take to adopt Anthony can call (813) 643-KIDS (5437).

In the meantime, the need for hearts continues. Last weekend — after the Monday news conference already had been scheduled — the hospital staff performed its 101st heart transplant.