ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Children’s Hospital is celebrating a significant milestone. This past May, the hospital’s Washington University Heart Center performed its 600th heart transplant, a nationwide record in pediatric care.
“I think as medicine has evolved over time, we’ve become better equipped at being able to do these procedures and provide that kind of care,” said Dr. Marion Ybarra, pediatric transplant cardiologist.
Children’s Hospital performed its first heart transplant in 1984. Nearly four decades since, and it’s one of the few heart centers in the entire world to take-on high-risk cases.
Eight-year-old Kyndric Flye has been the recipient of not one but two transplants at Children’s Hospital.
“He had one at 4 and the most recent one was (February 2022), at the age of 7,” MaKiyah Mosley-Flye, Kyndric’s mother, said.
In 2016, Kyndric was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, a rare disease that causes inflammation of blood vessels. By 2019, Kyndric was in heart failure. He received his first transplant that August.
His doctors say Kyndric loves science and sports, and has aspirations to play baseball one day.
MaKiyah hopes her son’s story inspires others to become organ donors.
“You just never know when you or someone you love is going to be on the receiving end of that program,” she said. “And we are very thankful for Mid-America Transplant. Organ donation is very important.”