John H. Calhoon, M.D., the Calhoon President’s Council Chair for Excellence in Surgery at the Health Science Center, has performed more than 2,500 lifesaving surgeries to repair congenital heart defects and other abnormalities in South Texas children.
Two weeks ago, 16-year-old Andy Linares of Laredo, underwent a heart transplant led by Dr. Calhoon at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Medical Center Hospital. The surgical team included Jorge D. Salazar, M.D., assistant professor and director of congenital heart surgery at the Health Science Center, and Charles Moore, M.D., director of heart transplantation at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa and associate clinical professor of surgery at the Health Science Center. The team, supported by many other health professionals, exemplifies the excellent collaboration between the Health Science Center and CHRISTUS Santa Rosa.
Andy’s health had worsened in 2005, and he was blue from lack of oxygen and terribly swollen from profound heart failure at the time of transplant.
“Andy’s heart had only one pumping chamber, and for his entire life his doctors tried to make that work,” Dr. Calhoon said. “The biggest problem was that his heart was in the wrong part of his chest. A major vein was on the left side rather than the right side, and another major vein was missing altogether. We did a lot of creative plumbing to get him squared away – it was pretty sporting.”
Since birth, Andy has been extremely limited in what he could do. While his body still has a long way to go to fully recover, the first signs are excellent. “Andy is now pink; for the first time he has adequate oxygen in his blood,” Dr. Calhoon said. “His fingers, which were swollen, are returning to normal size. He was so out of breath before the surgery that he couldn’t speak a sentence. Now he can. We are very pleased.”
Andy, a French horn enthusiast, couldn’t march with the band, but now the field is open to him. He also dreams of playing basketball, and those dreams weren’t dampened in the least when Spurs player Manu Ginobili visited Andy in the hospital and took a liking to him. Will Andy be able to play basketball now that he has a new heart? “It will take a while for Andy to learn how to dunk like Manu,” Dr. Calhoon joked. “But he should be able to play pickup games and shoot a ball.”
When that first shot hits nothing but net, Andy will think of Dr. Calhoon and the team!
