Children's Hospital

Celebrating Jakob's Successful Heart Transplant

BOSTON (CBS4) ― Two weeks from now when most people are toasting Valentine's Day, a local family will be celebrating a surgery. It is the anniversary of a successful heart transplant at Children's Hospital Boston that in all likelihood saved their little boy's life.

Jakob Skorohod's mom received the news when she was 28 weeks pregnant.

"They just told me the defect which they though he had, which was hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and that we would need to go into Boston," says Jakob's mom, Hope.

Doctors at Children's say that, until recently, infants with Jakob's condition had little hope. "Babies with hypoplastic left heart syndrome born before the mid-80s almost uniformly died within the first few months of life," says Dr. Renee Margossian, a staff cardiologist at Children's Hospital.

Today, 85 percent of babies with this complication come through after a series of three surgeries. But Jakob would need a transplant.

"They understood that if we did not go forward with the heart transplant, that he would probably die in the next few weeks," says Dr. Elizabeth Blume, who is the medical director of the Heart Failure and Transplant program.

The usual wait for a child's heart is about three months. But after eleven days, around Valentine's Day, there was a dramatic late-night visit to Hope's room.

They had a heart.

Jakob was scheduled for surgery right after Valentine's Day. The procedure that he underwent was actually developed at Children's Hospital in the early 80s.

"The heart started beating as soon as it was sewn in, and it was a great success right from the operating room," says Dr. Blume.

A few months later Jakob's body started rejecting the new heart. But anti-rejection medicines eventually worked. Jakob recovered completely.

"He's growing up into this playful, energetic, interactive young boy, and that's the reward we get," says Dr. Peter Laussen, ICU Director at Children's Hospital.

Now the Skorohod's are thankful for each and every year with Jakob.

"We try to celebrate his birthday," says Hope, "and then I silently celebrate the day he had his transplant. That's his second birthday."

Jakob's parents say he is doing very well and that he's right at home at Children's. Because so many good things have happened there, he doesn't mind the trip to the hospital.

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