I posted an article this amazing young man a while back..and I thought I'd share the latest update on him with you...
He and his family are friends and his dad is a a co-worker of mine..
Go Garrett!
Payback for all of you have made me tear up around here lately ;-)
Boy, 8, home again with a 3rd heart
BY BRIAN NEWSOME
May 26, 2008 - 12:21AM
Eight-year-old Garrett Ross had been playing baseball just days before his life took a horrifying turn.
The transplanted heart he'd received as an infant was failing. He received a new one right away, but a return to his old life was six months away at best and unlikely at worst.
Now, just three months after surgery, he's playing catch with his dad at their home in eastern El Paso County.
When the boy grabs his mitt and calls on J.D. Ross to go outside, the man drops everything. Some parents, Ross said, will tell their kids "in a little while" when they want to do something.
"There's no ‘little while,'" said Ross. "We fought too long and hard to get the opportunity to play catch again."
The fight began at Garrett's birth, when he was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, in which the left side of the heart is undeveloped and not functioning. As his heart neared the end of its expected life, a donor came through, and he got his first transplant when he was 7½ months old. Garrett went on to play baseball, compete in rodeos and speak publicly about the importance of organ donation.
But earlier this year, after he starting getting chest pains, the boy learned his second heart was dying. At The Children's Hospital in Aurora, he received a new heart from a boy who arrived at the hospital the same night and died of meningitis.
Days after Garrett's March 2 transplant, the boy who had been a standout at baseball tryouts was crying in pain just to walk across the room or down the hall.
Garrett was first told he could not go home until August. Then June. It turned out to be May.
Now, he creates imaginary rodeo competitions in his room, complete with multiple events.
"He'll jump around and act like he's riding a bucking horse," his dad said Friday.
On Thursday, the boy was able to visit his school, the Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary Learning. Although he generally must avoid public places because of a suppressed immune system, Garrett was able to sit at a distance from his peers and talk to them about what he went through.
Getting a chance to be around other kids has been good medicine. Garrett struggled with loneliness after his surgery, his father said, and craved the happy routine that ended so abruptly earlier this year. At times, his sister, 6-yearold Jessi, would sneak away to a closet and cry.
When they returned home a week ago, those days were all but forgotten.
"I could hear the kids just squealing, having fun," Ross said. "It was a type of a laughter that I had not heard in three months or more. Tears welled up in my eyes."
The fight isn't over. Garrett's immune system will remain dangerously vulnerable for six to 12 months. There are worries about the durability of his new heart. The family faces significant medical bills.
Those battles are for another day, Ross said.
"We don't have anything to complain about. We're so lucky . . . I don't know what six months or a year is going to look like for us, but I know right now we're all right."
The Rosses' story has struck a chord with hundreds of people in Colorado Springs and as far away as Pennsylvania.
Larry Martin, a family friend and chief investigator for the 4th Judicial District District Attorney's Office, helped raise about $10,000 to cover the family's medical bills. He got employees to pay for the privilege of wearing jeans to work on certain Fridays, and he organized a bake sale and silent auction.
One of Ross' long-time friends, Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Douglas Brigham, started a blog and e-mailed his network of contacts to help the family. On Thursday, he arrived in Colorado Springs on a motorcycle to present them with about $10,000 he raised through his efforts.
A trust fund has been set up for Garrett's medical care.
Ross sometimes struggles with the idea that two children had to die for his son to live, but he tells Garrett's story in hopes people will realize the value of organ donations.
That message came through, tragically, as recently as Friday.
Garrett had recently seen a TV news story about a 6-year-old boy who suffered a severe head injury, and he wanted to give the boy a get-well card because he was also being treated at Children's Hospital in Aurora. After the boy's family learned about Garrett's card, they met with the Rosses.
On Friday, Ross received word from the father that the boy died. Garrett had inspired them to donate their child's organs.
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0198 or bnewsome@gazette.com
HOW TO HELP
Donations can be made to the Family Fund for Garrett Ross at any branch of Ent Federal Credit Union.
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Topic: follow up on heart transplant (Read 499 times)