Six-day-old baby is youngest heart transplant patient

A six-day-old baby has survived a heart transplant at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

A heart defect caused Oliver Crawford to be born seven-weeks ahead of time on January 5. His mother, Caylyn, said she had expected to deliver a stillborn baby when her water broke just after 33 weeks, but Oliver “came out fighting.”

A prenatal exam had shown that Oliver suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that made the left ventricle of his heart too large.

After he was born, doctors screened the infant for a heart transplant, and a heart became available two days later. The transplant operation lasted 10 hours, and at six-days old, Oliver became the youngest person to receive a heart transplant in the U.S. His incision stretched from his belly to his chest.

Doctors are monitoring Oliver’s lung strength in the hospital but say he’s doing well.

Source