Pediatric Organ Transplant
UVA Health Children’s pediatric transplant specialists offer compassionate, individualized care for children before, during, and after a transplant. Our team of transplant coordinators, nurses, social workers, and financial counselors work with the entire family to ease the process and make you and your child as comfortable as possible.
Pediatric Organ Transplant at UVA Health Children's
We’re the only hospital in the region to perform pediatric organ transplants from newborns to young adults. We receive patients from across Virginia and beyond to help children with the most complex cases, including retransplantation, or "re-do" transplants.
Find out more about our transplant programs:
Jayden's Heart Transplant Story
Jayden was born with a serious congenital heart defect, hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). At age 7, he got so sick that he had to go on the heart transplant list. Jayden got his new heart in May 2024 and had to be in the hospital for months, but now his mom loves watching him run and play with his siblings and cousins.
Jewel: I knew Jayden was my miracle baby because he has been through a lot. I kept hearing bad news from birth on up and I just feel like he's a miracle to me. Jayden was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, with heterotaxia splenia.
Dr Gangemi: So hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a congenital heart defect where babies are born without a significant development of the left-sided structures of the heart. And so therefore we're required to do a palliative procedure called a Norwood procedure. And that is a procedure that is usually done within the first week of life. And it's probably the biggest operation that we do as congenital heart surgeons.
Jewel: He was two days old when he got his first surgery. He was five months w hen he got his second surgery and three years old when he got his third surgery.
Dr Gangemi: We have a dedicated staff here at UVA that are dedicated and specialized in pediatric heart transplant and heart failure. I work very, very closely with them because some of these patients obviously end up getting listed for transplant or in Jayden's case sometimes they do need a ventricular assist device.
Jewel: This past May of 24, he got sick and had to get rushed to the hospital. Got transferred here to UVA. They tried out sorts of medications to see if it would get his heart back pumping. It just wasn't doing what it's supposed to do. So he had to get on the transplant list. Then a heart became available and he had his open heart surgery and he's doing well.
Dr Gangemi: So fortunately the success rate across the board for pediatric heart transplants is actually pretty good. I think here at UVA we're right at about 95% survival. We'd love to sit here and say 100% but some of these patients are very, very, very complex. Our 30-day survival is 100%.
Jewel:
The recovery part, it was a lot that he had to do because he had fluid on his lungs. He had to learn how to walk again. The nurses, all the staff here, PT, OT, the doctors, surgeons, everyone just stayed on top of everything. The doctors in the hospital, they were miraculous.
Dr Gangemi:
The reason why we're so successful here, not only with the Norwood but with all of our congenital heart operations, is because it's the same people doing the same thing every single day. I have a dedicated staff in the operating room, dedicated circulating nurse, scrub tech, pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists, pediatric cardiac perfusionists that all work together to take care of these patients postoperatively and it's a phenomenal team.
Jewel:
Jayden is definitely a miracle because he has almost lost his life twice and he's here. So far everything's looking good. I'm very pleased. The doctors are really pleased. I'm just a happy, proud parent.