Jan 18, 2008 5:13 pm US/Central
4-Month-Old Heart Transplant Patient Doing Well
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Four-month-old Fintan Shiltz is recovering well following a heart transplant on Christmas Day 2007.
CBS
He's packed a lot of struggle into four months, but Baby Fintan is doing much better. His parents are now sharing their family's ordeal with the community, as CBS 2's Jim Williams reports.
As Mark and Gina Shiltz talked to reporters in the lobby of Children's Memorial Hospital, the youngest of their five children was upstairs making a strong recovery.
Fintan Shiltz had a heart transplant on Christmas day.
"It sounds pretty dramatic – a heart transplant; wow – that's a big thing," said father Mark Shiltz.
It's a big thing for anyone, let alone a four-month-old baby.
Fintan, born with a congenital heart defect, waited 11 tense weeks for his new heart. It was difficult for his parents to see their baby go into surgery.
Shiltz recalled the emotional situation. "To hand your child over to someone else to try to fix him…"
Fintan is still on a ventilator in the intensive care unit, but his prognosis is excellent.
"All things considered we're very pleased with his progress," said Dr. Carl Backer.
"He's an amazing little boy with brown eyes -- and even through all of this, he's smiling," said mother Gina Shiltz.
Children's Memorial Hospital does about 10 heart transplants a year. The parents of children who receive the hearts are joyous and grateful. They know other parents have made the agonizing decision to donate their children's organs.
"We'll robably never meet them or know them, but they are forever part of our family now," Gina Shiltz said.
Fintan's parents say he is a gift, a gift made possible by doctors and nurses, and another family who the Shiltz's call courageous and generous.
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