Two heart transplants in one day showcase cardiac transplant team
A heart transplant comes close to a miracle for those who need it. It takes many hands to make that miracle happen: A team including surgeons, operating room staff, heart and lung machine specialists, physicians and others must work together to ensure a successful surgery. It’s a careful balance, and one that the Medical University of South Carolina recently pulled off twice in one day.
Clover Carney, 3, and another child received heart transplants at the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital on the same day. Clover was born with heart block and heart failure, meaning her heart doesn’t pump effectively. She received her first pacemaker, also at MUSC, the day after she was born. Her previous treatments were working well until the beginning of 2024, when her heart failure began to progress, making a transplant the only option. After a month in the hospital, her mom received the call that a donor heart was available.
The same day Clover’s mom got the call, another donor heart became available for another Shawn Jenkins patient. A MUSC surgeon brought Colver’s donor heart to the hospital, turned around and caught another flight to evaluate the second heart, and then brought it to MUSC. Hearts are usually viable for only a few hours after a donor’s death, so the clock was ticking. Clover’s surgery kicked off at 1 a.m.; by 11 a.m. the next day, the second patient was in the OR receiving their lifesaving transplant.
Clover and the other patient will have to be on medications to avoid organ rejection for the rest of their lives, but the improvement in Clover’s health was noticeable almost immediately, said her mother, Caroline Floyd. The day after her surgery, Clover was up and playing with her Barbie makeup castle, a little girl on the brink of a new life.