Leo Gillick
With the wonders of modern medicine, even children like 11-year-old Ava Cooper have the possibility of a second chance. After sitting on a waiting list for months, the young girl could call her dad to give him the good news of a suitable heart donor.
Videos by Rare
Since she was only 6 days old, 11-year-old Ava Cooper had been battling heart problems. She was born with her heart on the wrong side, with a hole, her pumping chambers switched, and a pulmonary valve missing. This caused serious problems, and so for almost her entire life, she has been in and out of surgery.
At the age of only 5 years old, she had undergone 5 open-heart surgeries. After all that, things were looking up for the young lady. But in 2024, disaster struck. Her mother noticed that she was becoming ill much more frequently. She was suffering from facial swelling, was unable to lie on her front, and was having a hard time breathing.
Doctors determined that Ava Cooper was suffering from heart failure.
A Heart Transplant Was Her Only Hope
Madeleine Townsend, MD, knew something drastic needed to be done if they hoped to save the young girl’s life. “We did a complete workup to try and see if there was anything else we could do to save her heart. We realized that doing more surgeries on her current one was not going to make her better for the long term, and our goal is to give her the best long-term quality of life. Getting Ava a heart transplant was her best option.”
So, in September of 2024, Ava was put on the transplant list, hoping a suitable new one would turn up. For months, she was waiting as her health slowly deteriorated. She was put on a breathing and feeding tube. Eventually, she needed assistance from a Berlin heart. All she could do was wait.
Her family tried their best to maintain a sense of normalcy for the 11-year-old while she waited for a new heart. “We had Sunday dinners, threw a birthday party for Ava’s sister in her hospital room, and even brought up presents to open on Christmas morning. We were still trying to find ways to create memories together,” her mother recalled.
But, 200 days after initially being admitted, Ava received some news about her new heart. While on a call to her dad, a nurse whispered something in her ear. Beaming, she shared it with him.
“Daddy, I’m getting a heart.”
Now, a month after post-surgery recovery, Ava and her new heart are able to return home. It appears that there are no signs of rejection. She is beginning to get into the swing of a normal life once again.
