Heart Found for 1 of 2 Sisters Awaiting Transplant

Jan. 19, 2009— -- DALLAS (AP) - A heart has been found for the younger of two North Texas sisters placed on the transplant list.

A spokeswoman at Children's Medical Center Dallas says that the transplant surgery for 7-year-old Emily Smith began Monday morning and was expected to last at least till mid-afternoon.

Both Emily and her sister 9-year-old Shayde were diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, which means their hearts don't relax like they should between pumps, so they don't properly fill with blood.

The sisters were both put on the transplant list on April 3, 2008.

Dr. Aliessa Barnes is one of the girls' pediatric cardiologists at Children's Medical Center Dallas, where eventually they will both hopefully undergo transplants. Last June, Barnes said that without a transplant, the girls' chances of surviving the next two years were 50-50. She said that the condition could cause a blood clot or sudden cardiac death.

While it isn't rare for siblings to need transplants, it is uncommon that they would need them at the same time, said Pam Silvestri, a spokeswoman for Southwest Transplant Alliance, one of 59 organ donation agencies across the country that provide organs to transplant hospitals.

"It's usually years in between," she said, noting that genetic illnesses can often mean siblings would both need some kind of transplant.

While the girls' condition seems to run in families, it hasn't yet been proven to be genetic, Barnes said. And, she said, the condition itself is rare, striking less than one person in a million.

Barnes said that they don't know what caused the girls' restrictive cardiomyopathy. Their mother said there is no history of the condition in her family or the family of the girls' father. The girls' 2-year-old half brother has a normal heart.

The first inkling that something might be wrong came in August 2007, said Natalie Van Noy, the girls' mother. It was at this time that a doctor discovered that Shayde had a heart murmur. She was referred to a cardiologist, who Van Noy said mentioned restrictive cardiomyopathy as a possibility late last year and suggested Shayde return in several months to be re-examined.