Page 4 - Easton Sinnamon News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Courtesy Sinnamon Family(ASHEBORO, N.C.)  A one-year-old boy who was born with a congenital heart defect and underwent three open-heart surgeries in his first months of life, now has a new heart. Easton Sinnamon, of Asheboro, North Carolina, underwent a first-of-its kind heart transplant. The baby not only received a new heart, but also, two weeks later in a separate procedure, received thymus tissue from the same donor. With the transplanted thymus tissue comes the hope that Easton will have to take much smaller doses of the immunosuppressive drugs transplant recipients typically have to take for the rest of their lives, according to Joseph W. Turek, M.D., Ph.D., chief of pediatric cardiac surgery at Duke University Hospital, and the doctor who oversaw Easton's transplants. "This is a huge step in the right direction," Turek told "Good Morning America." I would hope that we could envision a day in the near future where we wouldn't need to use such high

Duke university hospitalNorth carolinaUnited statesJosephw turekEaston sinnamonKaitlyn sinnamonCenters for diseaseDrug administrationMorning americaDisease control