Miami 3-year-old recovering from five-organ transplant
Adonis Ortiz received a rare five-organ transplant at only 3 years old and is expected to recover, Miami doctors are reporting.
The boy received a new liver, pancreas, stomach and small
and large intestines in October at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, according to CBS Miami.
He had been born with
a rare birth defection that caused his intestines stick out of the abdominal
wall, called gastroschisis. About 1,870 babies are born with the
condition each year, according to federal estimates.
“He is really strong,” Adonis’ mother Aracelis told CBS Miami. “After all his surgeries, he comes out with a smile. I’m like, how do you come out with a smile? They just chopped you up.”
Adonis is expected to make a full recovery. He is the youngest child to receive a multiple organ transplant without needing a colostomy, which is an opening that connects the colon to the abdominal surface, the Miami Herald reports.
The boy has undergone surgeries since he was only 3 months old, and has spent Christmas every year in a hospital, according to his family.
This year, Adonis and his mom will stay at the Ronald McDonald House where a team of transplant physicians can monitor him, according to the Herald.
“Everything
that they always kept telling me was that he has a 50/50 chance,’’ Aracelis told
the paper. “Nobody would ever give me any other percentage until now. So, to
hear that he has like an 80 to 85 percent chance, it’s a lot better than 50.’’
In 2012, a 6-year-old Maine girl received a six-organ transplant, including new stomach, liver, spleen, small intestine, pancreas, and part of an esophagus.
