THE KSN DREAM HOUSE FOR THE CURE

Baby survives heart transplant

by NBC
KSN News
Updated: Jan 22, 2008, 9:28am

WICHITA, Kansas -- Four months may not be a traditional birthday marker, but for baby Fintan Schiltz, it's a very special day.

Baby Fintan was born with a severe heart defect and his last hope was a heart transplant. The family waited 11 weeks, and on Christmas Day they received the gift of life.

As doctors at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago prepared to give him a new heart, Fintan's parents and his four brothers and sisters held on to their Catholic faith.

"That was very emotional again, no doubt about it, to hand your child over to somebody else, to fix him," recalled Mark Schiltz.

Doctors say little Fintan is making slow and steady progress with his new heart.

His proud parents call him a special gift from God.

"Through his special grace we were able to see this really for what it is and has become, and that is, a real gift," Mark Schiltz said.

Doctors say Fintan no longer needs a heart-lung machine, and they're confident he will be off a ventilator in the next week. He may be able to go home with his family in the next month.

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