HOUSTON – (May 3, 2010) – After a year-long medical odyssey at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Francisco “Frank” DeSantiago, the first heart patient to be discharged from a pediatric hospital with a mechanical heart pump, has returned to his home in the South Texas where he will celebrate his seventeenth birthday with his family and friends. Frank received a clean bill of health after his recent biopsy to check his newly transplanted heart. He was given the green light to return home.

“Frank has been an amazing success story,” said Dr. David L.D. Morales, pediatric cardiovascular surgeon at Texas Children’s Heart Center in Houston who implanted Frank’s device last May and performed his recent heart transplant in February. “He has had a long journey in the past year as he lived with a mechanical heart to his latest feat of recovering from a heart transplant. We are so pleased that he can finally return to his home and be with his friends and family.”
De Santiago will continue to reside in Houston and undergo rehabilitation and follow-up check-ups for three months before returning to his home in south Texas. He calls his heart “a gift” and is learning how to care for himself and his new organ.

Frank’s medical history over the past year includes:

May 11, 2009 – At age 16, Frank was flown to Texas Children’s from his South Texas home after suffering a stroke. He was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which his heart was enlarged to more than twice its normal size and could not pump blood efficiently. Physicians at Texas Children’s placed him on a heart transplant list because his heart was failing.

May 19, 2009 – Doctors decided to implant a HeartMate II, a mechanical heart pumping device that they placed inside his chest cavity to assist his native heart. The pump improved Frank’s cardiovascular condition and gave him the strength to exercise and grow stronger as he awaited transplantation.

October 29, 2009 - For five months Frank remained in the hospital. Then he made news for being the first patient to ever be discharged from any pediatric hospital with an implanted mechanical heart pump. Until that time, pediatric hospitals had kept patients with mechanical heart devices in the hospital – often in the ICU -- while awaiting transplantation. With his newfound freedom, Frank and his mother moved into a small apartment near the hospital. He received home schooling and was able to enjoy some normal teen activities such as going to the movies and kicking around his soccer ball. He continued with physical therapy and other follow-up care once or twice a week at the hospital.

January 29, 2010 - Three months later, Frank received a donor heart in a nine-hour transplant operation at Texas Children's. Once again, he recuperated in the hospital for a couple of weeks after heart transplantation, and then he and his mother moved back into the small apartment. During the following three months, Frank continued his home schooling and came to the hospital two or three times a week for follow-up care.

April 30, 2010 – After a test confirmed his good heart health, the doctors said Frank could return to his family home in South Texas.

“Frank showed a great deal of maturity in caring for himself during the long period when he had the mechanical pump and then again after his heart transplantation,” said Dr. Jeffrey Dreyer, medical director of cardiac transplantation at Texas Children’s Heart Center.” It was the reason we could allow him to leave the hospital with the mechanical heart pump. He came to us as a young man with a failing heart. Now he leaves with a new heart beating in his chest and hope for an active future. He’s one of our history-making patients who will always be part of the Texas Children’s family. We’re pleased that he can return to his family and be reunited with his friends after a year of being in Houston.”

Doctors say that Frank will need to come to Texas Children’s every three months during the first year for regular check ups.

About Texas Children's Hospital
Texas Children's Hospital is committed to a community of healthy children by providing the finest pediatric patient care, education and research. Renowned worldwide for its expertise and breakthrough developments in clinical care and research, Texas Children’s is ranked in the top 10 best children’s hospitals by U.S. News and World Report. Texas Children’s also operates the nation’s largest primary pediatric care network, with over 40 offices throughout the greater Houston community. Texas Children’s has embarked on a $1.5 billion expansion, Vision 2010, which includes a neurological research institute, a comprehensive obstetrics facility focusing on high risk births, and a community hospital in suburban West Houston. Get the latest Texas Children’s news on Twitter: www.twitter.com/texaschildrens