Oct 22, 2009 9:24 pm US/Central
Young Man's 2nd Heart Transplant A Success
Bill Coon, 20, Also Gets New Kidney
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Bill Coon, 20, received his second heart transplant this week.
CBS
Most of us will live the rest of our lives with the heart we were born with. In his 20 years, a young Chicago-area man has needed two heart transplants.
You might remember
the story on Bill Coon. After months of waiting, he put on a brave face, gave a thumbs up, and went in and got it.
CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez spoke with Coon's mother, right after the 20-hour procedure.
Fifty-eight days. That's how long one family spent on pins and needles waiting for an organ donor to save their son's life.
Bill Coon became gravely ill when both his replacement heart and his kidneys began to fail. But Thursday morning, his mother heard her son's brand-new heartbeat.
So just how dire was it?
"Last week, he was so sick that his resting heart rate was 135 beats a minute," Ann Coon said. "This morning, when we walked in, his heart rate was 95 beats a minute. So it was a tremendous sense of peace."
But Ann Coon has been through it before. When her son Bill was born with half a heart, he became one of the first babies in the country to have a heart transplant.
They found a heart at the last minute. It was a huge success, and Bill thrived. But this past March, his donor heart began to give out.
So, 20 years later, Bill, now a student at Columbia College, was about to get another new heart. Only this time -- after years of heart medication took its toll -- he needed a kidney, too.
Holed up at Northwestern Memorial hospital, the family waited 59 days before hearing he would get both. Cameras weren't allowed up in the intensive care unit, but one of his doctors gave us an update.
Dr. Edwin McGee, heart transplant surgeon, had a good news. He said Bill's new heart and kidney -- from the same donor -- are strong, and after both surgeries, he's doing fine.
The Coons could not be more thankful to the organ donors who've made so many memories possible, past and futures -- baseball, birthdays and family gatherings.
"You can't describe what kind of a weight is lifted," Ann Coon said. "I got my son back. I get to take him home. It doesn't get better than that."
Bill spent some 20 hours in the operating room, but remarkably, is expected to go home within 10 days. Even in 1989 after his first heart transplant, he was only in the hospital for 17 days.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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