Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 9, 1991 TAG: 9103090426
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
Joshua Adam Huneycutt was in critical condition Friday in the hospital's pediatric intensive-care unit, hospital spokeswoman Carol Powell said. The fifth child of Grant and Betty Huneycutt received the new heart during a five-hour operation performed Thursday by Dr. Glenn Barnhart.
Joshua was born with a heart defect, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which usually results in death in the first few weeks of life. The infant's left ventricle and aorta were too small to pump enough blood out of the heart to circulate through the body. The syndrome affects about 2,000 children per year in the nation, the hospital said in a news release.
The transplant "was really an answer to our prayers," the infant's father said in a telephone interview Friday.
"When Joshua was first born, he was doing great," Huneycutt said. "We were just overwhelmed with joy. The trouble didn't show up until the second day. He started turning blue from poor blood circulation and almost died that evening."
Huneycutt said doctors told him Joshua was "the strongest baby they've ever performed the operation on."
But he said Joshua's prognosis is still unclear. "The first couple of weeks are critical," he said.
Only 37 infants under the age of 10 days have received heart transplants since 1986, the United Network for Organ Sharing said. Eighteen of those operations were performed last year.
Powell said the previous youngest heart transplant patient in Virginia was 25 days old. The youngest in the nation was a baby in Loma Linda, Calif., who received the operation three hours after birth, Powell said.
by CNB