Stingl: In a heartbeat, boy gets transplant

Bailey Venet's doctor says fate smiled on the boy. Bailey's mom and dad praise God for saving their child.

The teen's name rose to the top of a transplant list a mere three hours after signup — speed never before seen at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin —  and he received a heart.

Adding to his good fortune, Bailey left the hospital and went home Wednesday, his 15th birthday.

"I'm very grateful, and I think it's really amazing how fast it happened," he said.

Bailey went into cardiac arrest twice, in December 2014 and again this month. He was at school both times and lucky that someone who knew CPR and how to operate a defibrillator was nearby. It became clear that he would need a new heart.

Pediatric heart transplants began happening as recently as the 1980s. Children's Hospital performs about 12 to 15 a year on average, with more than 600 a year done worldwide. It's not unusual for a child to wait weeks or months for a new heart to become available.

"There aren't enough donors for all children who need hearts, and the fact is we still see 10-20% of children who are on the list dying while waiting for an organ," said Steven Kindel, Children's medical director of advanced heart failure and cardiac transplant program. He is coordinating Bailey's care.

"But every once in a while fate smiles on you. In his case, we put him on the list and a few hours later we had an offer," Kindel said.

With transplant lists, it's not just a case of putting your name on the bottom and waiting. Bailey likely presented the perfect combination of age, physical size and geographical location relative to the donor organ.

"This was a really good strong heart that was a good size match for him and a perfect blood match for him. We count our blessings and move forward when we get an opportunity to see it turn around this quickly," Kindel said.

I met Bailey and his family in the cardiac intensive care unit as they prepared to check out. His room was decorated with birthday banners and balloons. Bailey had shed his hospital gown and was wearing a T-shirt reading, "God created and I believe."

Bailey's kid brother, Rayden, 2, was rambunctious and eager to head home to Greenwood, a city of 1,000 people in central Wisconsin. Another sibling, Kayla, 11, was back at the house with her grandma and grandpa. Bailey is the oldest, born the same month as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Mom Heidi, a librarian, and dad Eric, a welder, talked about how blessed they feel. It's been a rough couple years. Bailey had cardiomyopathy, which caused his heart to become enlarged, thick and rigid, and in his case triggered arrhythmia.

He had no symptoms until he collapsed during a basketball game in a school gym in December 2014. Coach and former EMT Andy Dean and his wife, Sara, a nurse, led the effort to perform CPR and jolt his heart with an automated external defibrillator, like the ones you see on the walls of public places.

After that, doctors at Children's Hospital implanted an internal heart monitor and defibrillator in the boy's chest. The device stabilized his heart rhythm a few times. But on Sept. 9, Bailey was in his ninth-grade classroom at Greenwood High School when he became dizzy and passed out. He was in cardiac arrest again. This time, physical education teacher Penny Wehrs took quick action and saved the boy.

Bailey was rushed to a hospital in Marshfield and flown that same day to Children's. The transplant was on Sept. 15, the same day his school classmates went on social media posed in his favorite colors and holding a sign about kicking the surgery's butt. Bailey's family stayed at the Ronald McDonald House across the street, which helped give them a sense of home.

The Venet family does not know anything about the donor, and the hospital is prevented from giving out information, even just age or gender. Bailey said he's curious to know, and he will be offered a chance to write a letter of gratitude to be passed along to the donor's family. It's possible the two families could meet someday.

"We just want to say thanks," Heidi said. "It's not something we take lightly. We realize that while we are celebrating, there's a family mourning somewhere."

Bailey, slender and soft-spoken, said he misses the comfort of home and his cat, Boots. To heal and avoid infections, he will not return to school until January, though he will receive instruction from a visiting teacher. He will begin with 20-some doses of medicine a day, but taper off during the first year. Once-a-week trips to Children's Hospital for checkups will become less often as time goes on.

His new heart already feels better than his troublesome old one, Bailey said. His doctors say he soon should be able to resume normal activities, including playing sports.

He had no special birthday plans, he said. But he knows that turning 15 and eliminating the danger of another heart attack means he's close to getting a driver's license.

Two of Bailey's doctors wanted to use this news media attention as a teachable moment. Cardiologist Anoop Singh mentioned Project ADAM, which promotes community responsibility by educating people to perform CPR and operate automated defibrillators. Some schools have cardiac arrest drills because it's a more likely occurrence than a fire.

And Children's Kindel stressed the importance of saying yes to becoming an organ donor.

"It's a miracle of humanity," he said, "that we have this way of taking a horrible tragedy and turning it into a life-saving therapy for many other people."

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or email at jstingl@jrn.com. Connect with my public page at Facebook.com/Journalist.Jim.Stingl