HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida teen received a much-needed medical holiday gift in the form of a heart transplant in Hollywood.
The transplant is a miracle for 16-year-old Timothy Jones, and the procedure marks a milestone for Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.
Jones and his family reunited with the heart transplant team at the hospital and thanked his donor family, Tuesday.
“Thank you. You basically saved my life,” Jones said.
The team completed Jones’ heart transplant about two weeks ago. This makes the hospital’s 50th successful heart transplant.
Dr. Frank Scholl is the cardiologist at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital and was on hand for the reunion.
“I sit here with the awesome team, and look at you, Timothy, and see how amazing you look,” Scholl said. “You are like a different person. That is one of the best feelings in the world.”
A few months ago, Jones was a normal teenager who attended Blanche Ely High School until his parents realized something was wrong.
“He had complained of chest pains and flu-like symptoms, so we went to the ER,” said the teen’s father Carl Jones.
Jones was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and was in the end stages of heart failure. He needed a transplant.
“Wow, just shocked,” Jones said. “Me, someone’s that’s never been in the hospital has to be in the hospital and get a new heart. Just shocking.”
Two months later, the team at Joe DiMaggio was alerted that there was a heart for Jones.
He was then prepped and within hours, underwent surgery.
“The hearts comes from people with normal anatomy, and about half of our patients have abnormal anatomy,” Scholl said. “In Timothy’s case, it took about 50 minutes or so to sew his heart in.”
Jones made sure to thank the donor’s family.
“To the donor, I would just like to say thank you for giving me a second chance at life,” Jones said, “even if you had to give yours up.”
The teen’s aunt, Marcia Wise, also expressed her gratitude.
“We know that it’s hard to lose someone, but to make the decision to give a part of your loved one to save someone else,” Wise said getting choked up, “so we thank you.”
The donor was a true blessing for the Jones family and they said they hope to meet them one day.
Jones said he cannot wait to get back to normal and may even start school as early as January.
Cardiologists at Joe DiMaggio want to implore those in the community to become organ donors because they said it saves lives.
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