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After months of waiting, a five-year-old girl from Sherbrooke is finally getting a new lease on life.
Elissa Grondin received a heart transplant Tuesday afternoon.
Elissa had the heart transplant after a long six month wait.
“We’re very happy. This is a gift,” said Elissa’s mother, Josee Scantland.
Transplant Quebec medical director Dr. Jean-Francois Lizé said that while six months may seem like a long wait for a potentially lifesaving surgery, it’s not out of the ordinary because there are so few options.
“Even if you take a six-year-old child, he could be as tall as an eight-year-old or a nine-year-old, or as small as a three-year-old, so you need to have a match for the height and the weight of the patient,” said Lizé.
Size is not the only thing that matters. Just finding a donor is increasingly difficult.
Elissa will now have to keep up with a rigorous regiment of medication over the next six months to make sure her body doesn’t reject the heart giving her a new lease on life.
Agencies/Canadajournal
