The State - News from Oct. 10, 1988

A pioneering surgeon pleaded for more infant heart donors even as the latest infant heart transplant recipient recovered from the life-saving operation. “We want to remind parents of babies that have become brain dead that something terribly useful can come out of it,” said Dr. Leonard Bailey, chief of the infant transplant program at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Bailey, who pioneered the transplant of infant hearts, said not enough donor hearts are available in the United States and Canada. “If we could find donors for all the babies confronted with heart transplants, it would probably be the most common surgery we do here every year,” Bailey said. The newest patient in Loma Linda’s transplant program, 5 1/2-month-old Matthew Matsumiya, remained in critical condition after receiving a new heart Saturday morning.