Monday, October 1, 2007

By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News

Thirteen-year-old Andrew Madden has always had a big heart.

Too big, actually. He was born with a heart condition – called idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy – that enlarges the heart and can lead to heart failure.

But that all changed Sunday when doctors gave him a new one.

He became the Children's Medical Center Dallas' 100th recipient of a heart transplant, and the 15th – already a record – in 2007.

Andrew got the word early Sunday that a heart was available – and spent the rest of the morning asking questions and sharing a few hugs with his surgeon.

"I heard the beeper this morning, and I jumped up," said Andrew, who has been in the Dallas hospital since Aug. 14, when he began showing signs of heart failure. "I was just excited. But now I am nervous and excited at the same time because it's a big surgery."

Dr. Kristine Guleserian said outcomes for surgeries of such magnitude are never certain, but said Andrew had a lot going for him: He was otherwise healthy, had great support from his family and had been diagnosed early.

"You've got the A-team on your side today," she told Andrew shortly before the surgery. "We're going to have a good day today."

She said Dr. W. Steves Ring, who performed North Texas' first pediatric heart transplant in 1988, would be assisting during the operation. Dr. Ring's first pediatric patient – 8-month-old Kiersten Jones of Flower Mound – survived the first surgery but had to come back two months later for a second transplant.

Dr. Guleserian said a lot has changed in the 19 years the hospital has been replacing bad hearts. Technology, technique and anti-rejection medications all have improved, she said.

Still, there was no getting around the fact that Sunday's surgery was a big operation for a pretty small boy.

"We're all nervous and excited, too," said his mother, Lauri Wemmer. "We've got a big crew coming from Odessa to show their support."

A pitcher for his baseball team, Andrew stands 4 feet 9 inches and weighs 71 pounds. He couldn't wait to get his new heart, so he can start putting on weight to get back on the baseball diamond, he said.

Indeed, baseball was on both his mind and his doctor's Sunday. In the six weeks since he's been in the hospital, he and Dr. Guleserian bonded over their love for the Boston Red Sox.

On Saturday, still waiting for news of a heart for Andrew, she gave him a Red Sox cap with a note that read, "Here's a little something for good luck."

"And the next morning I got my heart," Andrew said, telling the story Sunday morning with relish. Only slightly less exciting was Saturday's news that the Red Sox had won their division and a playoff berth.

"We definitely got some momentum going for us," said Dr. Guleserian, whose family has season tickets behind home plate at Fenway Park. She told Andrew that if he gets healthy quickly enough, she's going to find a way to get him tickets to the see the Red Sox in the World Series.

"We've done our part. We're going to have to get the team to cooperate and make sure they keep winning," she told him.

The smile that spread across Andrew's face suggested that surgery or no, the prospect of seeing the Sox in the Series was going to keep his heart beating just a little faster.