Boy With 2nd Donor Liver ‘as Well as Expected’

Ronnie DeSillers, the 7-year-old whose second liver transplant was partly sponsored by President Reagan, was in critical condition Saturday, but doctors were optimistic for his recovery.

Ronnie was under intensive care in Children’s Hospital after the 14-hour operation, which began Friday morning, Lynn McMahon of the hospital staff said.

“Ronnie is experiencing minor internal bleeding; however, that is not unusual following transplantation, and it is already showing signs of subsiding,” she said.

McMahon said that the new liver was being monitored for signs of infection or malfunction.

“Doctors are optimistic about Ronnie’s recovery, and believe that Ronnie is doing as well as can be expected,” she said.

Surgeons considered the operation a high-risk one because a virus had attacked the boy’s lungs and his first donor liver, McMahon said.

The second replacement organ was located Friday in a nationwide search.

After the boy’s classmates in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., raised money to help pay for the first transplant, $4,000 of it was stolen and well-wishers from across the nation began sending donations.

The contributions amounted to nearly $500,000. They included a $1,000 check from Reagan and $32,000 raised by sailors on a U.S. aircraft carrier.

Ronnie, who weighed just 38 pounds when he entered the hospital, called the President his “big hero” and took an autographed photograph of him, along with several stuffed animals, into the operating room for his first operation on Feb. 25.

Ronnie’s mother, Maria DeSillers, said that she placed only a picture of Jesus Christ with him for the second operation “because of the seriousness of the situation.”