Toddler ‘Critical’ After New Heart

A 2-year-old Hawaiian boy who underwent a heart transplant was listed in extremely critical condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center on Sunday, suffering complications from the nine days he spent on a heart-lung machine before the transplant, a spokesman said.

Jason Jennette’s 5 1/2-hour heart transplant, which began at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, went smoothly, said the medical center’s spokesman, Dick Schaefer. But Jason’s lungs have been swelling and bleeding, placing him in “extremely critical” condition, Schaefer said.

“The surgery went very well; the heart is working well and pumping strong,” he said. “The problem is his lungs.”

Jason has been hooked to a heart-lung bypass machine since May 29, the day before he left Pepeekeo, Hawaii, aboard a Coast Guard cargo plane, accompanied by a nine-member medical team from Childrens Hospital of Orange County.

A commercial flight could not accommodate the bypass machine, which was developed by Childrens Hospital in the 1970s to take the place of an infant’s heart and lungs, taking stress off weakened organs. The machine pumps oxygen into the blood.

The boy waited at the hospital in the city of Orange, and after a donor heart was found Saturday, he was transferred to Loma Linda for the surgery.

The boy was born with a congenital heart defect, a dime-sized hole between two chambers of his heart. The disease afflicts one in 6,000 infants.