Organ donor's heart saves Minnesota baby born with rare genetic disorder
MINNEAPOLIS — Newborn Maddy Smith was diagnosed with end-stage heart failure last Valentine's Day. But thanks to a priceless gift, her family will have a much different holiday this year.
"We're just so grateful for everything and every day that has come," said Jessie Smith, Maddy's mother.
There was a time when Jessie and Colin Smith were praying for a cry. Last Valentine's Day, the Smiths rushed 2-week-old Maddy to the E.R. It was there they learned she was in end-stage heart failure due to a rare genetic mitochondrial disorder.
"You don't know whether it's going to be a month or a year," Colin Smith said.
Kept alive by a heart pump, Maddy spent seven months in the cardiovascular intensive unit at M Health Fairview Masonic Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.
"Take it day by day and know that you can get to a really beautiful place on the other side if you can just hold on," Jessie Smith said.
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On that other side was a heart. On Sept. 7, 2023, a successful transplant was made for one of M Health Fairview's youngest and smallest patients.
"Our expectation is that this will last her for a lifetime, that she'll do great with it, she'll be able to do all the things that you would expect a now-toddler would be able to do," said cardiologist Dr. Nathan Rodgers.
"God bless the donors," Jessie Smith said. "She didn't fight this hard, she didn't go through everything that she went through not for her to live life."
A life Maddy will now live to the fullest.
"It's the greatest gift," Rodgers said.
Valentine's Day also happens to be National Donor Day. Maddy's parents hope her story will spread awareness of the importance of organ donation.