ksl.com - Lehi infant receives hospital's first incompatible heart transplant

ksl.com - Lehi infant receives hospital's first incompatible heart transplant

Our Little Smiley Boy

Landen is doing so well today. He is giving us the BIGGEST smiles I have ever seen. He is just doing so well, we are so grateful.

Another Visit with Lion

The kids could not wait to see their little brother again. He is doing so well, he should be coming home in a couple of days. We are all so excited. We will be bringing our little boy home and this time he is staying home! Landen-beware you will be smothered by your siblings, but who would blame them...you are so cute, I mean handsome.

Lion's TV Debut

Channel 5 in Utah called the hospital because they had heard that there was a new type of heart transplant done here at Primary's that has not been done here before and wanted to do a news clip about it (thanks Darren for letter the news know about our little lion). So, on Friday the news reporter and his camera man came to tape Landen and also interview us and his doctor. It was fun to tell everyone how strong our little lion is and about the wonderful gift we were given two weeks ago. The news clip will air on Tuesday on KSL, channel 5. We will let you know of the time when we hear.

Visiting Lion

Since Landen is looking so well and nobody has a cough anymore, the kids were able to come and visit him at the hospital. It had almost been two weeks since the kids had seen there little brother and they had not seen him since he had received his new heart. We had them were masks, which KoKo did not enjoy, but they did love seeing there brother. KoKo has been walking around saying "Lando" and "Baby." We are so glad that our little baby is doing so well.

LION FEEDING

So yesterday and today they let Lion take a little feeding by mouth. It's gonna take a little while to get him back to where he needs to be, but at least he's started! He seems to be in a little better place with his meds and feeding so we're looking forward towards getting him home next week!

Out of the ICU!!

So Landen moved out of the ICU yesterday. One step closer buddy! He only has 1 IV left and its only being kept in for emergencies as all meds are going down his feeding tube or hes taking them by mouth. So now we need to get his feeds up to an acceptabl level for a lion... and get his meds to where they need to be. It's a work in progress as they adjust levels according to blood screens taken every day. He is doing so well! He is a bit fussy at times, but who wouldn't be with what he's gone through in the past 10 days. Thanks everyone for the continued love, support, and prayers!

Thanks You Letter

On Mother's Day we received the best gift we could have ever received...a new heart for our little 3 month old boy. As many of you know he was born with a large heart which did not function well. Our little boy Landen's heart was getting worse by the day. The surgeon at the hospital told us that his echo (ultrasound of his heart) was so bad it "scared him." Each day as we held our little boy, we prayed that a new heart would come. We also prayed for the family that the heart would come from knowing that is would be very painful for them. When we received the news that Landen got his new heart we rejoiced. We, however, also cryed. They were tears of happiness and sorrow. We knew our sons life would be saved, but our hearts broke for the family that lost their precious child. After the surgery both the anestheologist and the surgeon separately told us how "sick" our baby was. They said he might have looked well, but he was really sick. This made us appreciate the miracle of his new heart even more. We spent the next few days trying to figure out what we could write the family that gave us this wonderful gift. We wanted to tell this wonderful family how much we appreciate this gift. But, how do you write this in a letter? How do you express to a grieving family how there gift has saved the life of your son? Just how can one accurately put that into words? Joe and I both spent days trying to figure it out. The letter was finally written and sent on Friday. We hope that the family knows how much we appreciate this gift. We also hope that somehow our letter will give them comfort knowing they saved the life of our little baby.

1 Week After

What a Miracle!! Landen is doing great!! He's almost wireless again. Down to just 1 IV!! He's on a ton of meds to help him not reject the heart but he is taking most of them through his feeding tubes. He again has a long ways to go but we are so excited to be on the road and rolling! Tomorrow they will pull his feeding tube from his intestines to his stomach. That should help him from feeling so hungry!! As long as things continue to go well he will also be moving out of the ICU in the next day or two Hooray! GO LION!

Recovery Day 3

So they tried to pull the breathing tubes yesterday but he just wasn't ready. He's doing real well, and they will probably try again tomorrow. They did pull some of the chest drain tubes today, so less hardware!! He has some good awake time, and its so great to see him getting better. Go Lion!!

Recovery Day 2

Well here we are day 2 of transplant recovery. The doctors are very happy with the way things are going. Today he is getting an NJ tube placed for feeding. This tube goes to his intestines. We also hope to get his breathing tube pulled this afternoon. This would be very exciting. Grandma Bowers came to town and is helping with the kids at home while Tammy and I get to be at the hospital with Landen. Again thanks for your prayers, love, and support. The faith of our family and friends has bouyed us up so much, and we know it has had a profound impact on Landen. Keep the prayers coming and don't forget the donor family, we never will!!

Recovery

So we got to go in and see Landen at about 9:00 a.m. He is doing real well. He has tons of hardware hooked up, with lots of meds, but the doctors are very happy with the way things went. We are so grateful! Thank you all for your wonderful support, love, and prayers. We also thank our Heavenly Father who allowed this miracle to happen.

The next few days are vital as the meds are working to prevent the body from rejecting the new heart. We look forward to tubes and wires slowing coming off, and him waking up and feeling better and better.

TRANSPLANT!! The Best Mother's Day Ever

What an incredible day, and completely took us by suprise. Last night Tammy stayed ad the hospital with Landen, and I stayed at home with the kids. After breakfast, getting the kids and house cleaned up and relaxing for a little while we headed to the hospital. We arrived at Landen's room at about 2:30 to find Tammy talking on the phone. She said "Joe, I'm talking to Dr. Everrett, they may have a heart for Landen!" She put the Doctor on speaker and we listened as she explained the situation. She said that the donor's hospital had contacted them to see if we were interested. The donor had been involved in a very serious trama. Had been completely transfused, and was considered a higher risk donor because of the mass amount of blood transfusion and inability to collect conclusive results on all the labs normally run on donors blood. The cardiologist told us that she thought it was a good option, and wanted to know if we were interested. We of course were extatic, but wanted just a few minutes to discuss and pray. We asked the doctor to call us back in 3 mins. We walked into Landen's room, and knelt as a family in prayer to ask Heavenly Father if this was the right option for Landen. Before I could even get the question completely out of my mouth, an overwhelming feeling of peace and happyness rushed into me, and I knew immediately that we needed to accept the heart. Tammy felt the same exact thing. What an incredible, immediate answer to our prayer. It was amazing. 3 minutes on the dot and my cell phone was ringing. We told Dr. Everrett that we wanted the heart, 20 mins later she called back saying that it was done... Landen would be getting his heart tonight!! It was so tough waiting for things to get going, but just another chapter in our learning patience! At about 9 p.m. I received a call from one of the transplant coordinators saying that the donor family wanted to know if along with the heart, if we would be willing to accept a small stuffed animal.. we said of course. So we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally the call came in at 1:45 a.m. It was time to go. Landen was prepped and moved to the O.R. We gave him one last kiss and went to the waiting room, and here we sit... waiting again. Its 5:00 a.m. and we're waiting for another update in 1/2 hour. At 4:30 the nurse came in and told us that the heart was here, and that things were rolling along nicely. She also brought in a plastic bag with a small stuffed Lamb from the donor family. How fitting... the Lamb and the Lion. We are so greatful for the courageous choice of the donor family to send us the Gift of Life for Landen. We continue to pray for their comfort and peace at this tragic time in their lives. We hope that when the time is right they will feel comfortable with communicating with us, as we would love to communicate our love and appreciation to them and we'd welcome them to be as involved with our family and Landen as they would wish to be. We feel so at peace right now, and know that all this is coming together under the watchful direction of our Heavenly Father. Prayer works! We'll keep you posted. Thanks for all your Love, Faith, and Prayers!

Landen's Blessing