Boy Improving After Second Liver Transplant

Ronnie DeSillers, whose battle against liver disease elicited a $1,000 check from President Reagan, regained consciousness and was improving rapidly Sunday night, two days after his second liver transplant.

“It was so good to see him open his eyes. We haven’t seen him open his eyes since Friday,” Jose Castillo, the fiance of Ronnie’s mother, said at Children’s Hospital, where the 7-year-old Florida boy underwent the 14-hour operation.

Ronnie, who regained consciousness at 9:20 p.m., remained in critical condition, but hospital spokeswoman Lynn McMahon said that was normal for the first 72 hours after such serious surgery.

Surgeons transplanted a second donor liver into the boy in an operation that began Friday morning and ended early Saturday, she said.

The boy was still battling an infection called cytomegalovirus in his lungs, she said. The same virus had attacked his first donor liver, causing irreversible damage.