(Photo credit: Sherri Withrow facebook/Wkyt.com)
Around this time of year, we can’t help but to remember the teen living with a heart defect who received a huge Christmas miracle. But it wasn’t Santa who gave it to him. He just got a heart and kidney transplant that literally saved his life.
Six years ago, Marquis Davis underwent surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio. The 17-year-old was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), meaning the left side of his heart was underdeveloped and unable to support the circulation needed for the body’s organs.
In a normal heart , the heart’s left side has the job of pumping oxygenated blood into the aorta, the large artery that carries blood to the body. In someone with HLHS, the mitral valve, which separates the two left chambers of the heart, is too small or completely close
If the natural connections between the heart’s left and right sides are allowed to close in the first few days of life in a baby with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, he or she can go into shock and may die. Signs of shock include:
“He’s a fighter,” mom Sherri Withrow of Lexington, Kentucky, told, Good Morning America. “He never shows signs of giving up.”
(Photo credit: Facebook.com)
According to ABCNews.com, Marquis had open heart surgery at 5 days old and his first heart transplant when he was 3.
At 10, Marquis’ health took a turn for the worst. His body began rejecting his heart and one of his kidneys was failing.
In 2018, doctors told Withrow her son would need a transplant for both. The news was frightening to the mother of two.
“I’ve been through it the first time — this time, I was like, ‘Ok, we got this. We are going to be on the list no matter how long it takes,’” Withrow said, adding that Marquis waited for this heart and a new kidney for one year and four months.
On Dec. 2, after 17 hours of surgery, Marquis received two new organs.
“Marquis has been a fighter for quite a long time,” Dr. Clifford Chin, medical director of pediatric heart transplant at Cincinnati Children’s, told GMA. “Not only did he develop disease in his first heart transplant, the effects of the transplant medications over time caused his kidneys to…
Chin went on, adding that he and his team didn’t feel Marquis would’ve survived another heart transplant without receiving a kidney transplant.
“Combined transplantation of both the heart and kidney in children is not common — less than 50 done to date,” Chin said. “Based on limited information in the scientific literature, he now has the best chance for long term survival.”
Withrow said she would soon write a letter to the anonymous donor or donors who gave her son a second chance at life.
“If there ever comes a time and they’re willing, I’d like to meet them,” she said.
Marquis’ sister, Porsha Jackson, said she’s happy Marquis finally received the transplants.
“He’s such a strong and humble kid,” Jackson, also of Lexington, Kentucky, told GMA. “He’s been fighting his whole life and never complains, and I admire that most about him.”
Marquis spent that Christmas with his mom at the hospital and was released in February that following year.
Withrow said he is healthy and now looking forward to starting his career after college.
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