The State - News from Sept. 23, 1988

A boy believed to be the youngest heart-lung transplant recipient in the United States was breathing on his own after being taken off a respirator at Stanford University Medical Center. Two-year-old Nicholas Morgan of San Bernardino was reported in critical but stable condition. He was described by a nursing supervisor as “awake and alert and talking.” Nicholas, who had been on the waiting list for a transplant since July, is the 55th heart-lung transplant recipient at Stanford since 1981. Dr. Vaughn Starnes said Nicholas had suffered from congenital heart disease and resulting lung problems. The operation was performed after a Stanford team headed by Dr. Edward Stinson flew to Los Angeles to obtain donor organs from another 2-year-old who died of natural causes.