Just in Time: 7-Month-Old Receives Heart Transplant That Saves His Life

Heterotaxy Syndrome is a rare birth defect where vital organs, including the heart, develop on the opposite side of the body. Lincoln dextrocardia, a condition where his heart developed on the right side of his body rather than the left. During the first 12 hours of his life, doctors had to perform an emergency surgery to save his life. He had been in and out of the operating room since then and had been through multiple surgeries to make sure that blood is flowing and his heart keeps pumping.

Albany Daily Star reported that Lincoln's mother, Mindy Seay, did not know what to expect during her pregnancy because her doctors thought her son might not be able to survive birth. However, as soon as he came out and cried, everybody in the room was ecstatic.

The Seays are originally from Anchorage, Alaska but because of his heart condition, Lincoln was born in Oregon at Portland's Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. According to the dailymail.co.uk, doctors in the said hospital thought the condition can be solved with surgeries. However, even after multiple surgeries, Lincoln's heart was still not working properly. That's when they told his parents that Lincoln needed a heart transplant.

Doctors told his parents that it could take 90 days before a heart becomes available. On day 89, just as the little fighter's heart was about to give up, the Seays got a call from Seattle Children's Hospital that a pediatric heart was available for Lincoln. He went into cardiac arrest and had to be placed on the bypass machine that was originally intended to be used during the transplant.

"The remarkable thing was we were able to get him on machine quickly," Dr. Michael McMullen, surgical director of heart transplantation at Seattle Children's and Seay's personal surgeon, told ABC. "It can take two hours and we did it in 12 minutes and doing CPR," the medicaldaily.com reported. After waiting for what seemed like forever, the doctors were able to complete the surgery without any complications and saw immediate results.

"His color is incredibly different, it's pink and vibrant and he woke up with so much energy," said Mindy. "We joked, 'He woke up thinking he was the Hulk.'" Days after the surgery, Mindy is still very grateful for the anonymous donor family that gave his son a second chance at life. On her blog, she penned an open letter saying, "I will treasure that heart more than I've ever treasured any gift," the Seattle Times reported. "I will care for that gift to the very best of my ability and will be sure we always give reverence and respect to the child and the family from which it came."