Deseret News
1,549 hearts successfully transplanted in 35 years
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Intermountain Healthcare
SALT LAKE CITY Gerold Orfanos has always been full of energy, so when he sat still long enough to watch a full-length movie, his mom knew something was wrong.
“I thought, ‘This is not our kid,’” said Amanda Orfanos, who originally thought then-2-year-old Gerold was dehydrated.
A resulting chest X-ray eventually deemed that it was much worse Gerold had dilated cardiomyopathy and would need a heart transplant to survive.
“He would not be here today without the care he received,” Orfanos, who lives in Las Vegas, said.
I thought, This is not our kid, said Amanda Orfanos, who originally thought then-2-year-old Gerold was dehydrated.
A resulting chest X-ray eventually deemed that it was much worse Gerold had dilated cardiomyopathy and would need a heart transplant to survive. He would not be here today without the care he received, Orfanos, who lives in Las Vegas, said.
The young boy s transplant ended up being one of 1,549 lifesaving heart transplants performed in Utah by the Utah Transplant Affiliated Hospitals Cardiac Transplant Program in the past 35 years.
The unique program, which includes includes Intermountain Healthcare, University of Utah Health and the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, is one of the most successful transplant programs in the nation and is the only one of its kind in the Intermountain West.