Baby Jessica Leaves Hospital With New Heart
LOMA LINDA — Baby Jessica, the ninth infant to undergo pioneering child heart-transplant surgery at Loma Linda University Medical Center, was released from the hospital Friday, 20 days after her operation.
The 3-month-old baby from Calgary, Canada, is the fifth survivor of the transplant surgery series performed by Dr. Leonard Bailey, who stirred a medical uproar in 1984 when he implanted a baboon’s heart into a newborn known as Baby Fae, who died 20 1/2 days later.
Jessica, whose last name has not been revealed, “has had an uncomplicated postoperative recovery,†Bailey said in a statement released by hospital spokeswoman Anita Rockwell.
“She will be monitored closely as an outpatient,†Bailey said.
She and parents Greig and Brenda will live in the area for nine to 12 months before returning to Canada, Rockwell said. The infant underwent transplant surgery Feb. 7 because her own heart was fatally malformed.
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