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For Immediate Release:
April
02, 2012
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Media Contact:
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High School Athlete Goes Home After Receiving A Life-Saving Heart and Kidney Transplant at Holtz Children’s Hospital
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Who:
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Darius Redd; his parents, Eddie and Gloria Redd; UM/Jackson transplant team: Si Mai Pham, M.D., FACS, FAHA, chief of Heart/Lung Transplantation and Artificial Heart Programs at Miami Transplant Institute; Paolo Rusconi, M.D., medical director of Holtz’s Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program; and Junichiro Sageshima, M.D., assistant professor of clinical surgery.
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What:
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On June 23, 2011, shortly after returning home from football camp at Florida Atlantic University, 17-year-old Darius Redd, a star basketball and football player, complained of being unable to breathe. His parents took him to a hospital in Clewiston where they live. The hospital ran tests which revealed that Darius’ heart was failing. On June 27th, he was air rescued to Holtz Children’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He was placed on life-support and diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a disorder caused by a viral attack on the cardiac muscles of the heart. In addition to needing a heart transplant, Darius’ kidney was also failing and he required daily dialysis.
Doctors immediately placed Darius, who is now 18, on the waiting list for a heart and kidney transplant. Si Mai Pham, M.D., chief of the heart/lung Transplantation and Artificial Heart Programs at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center, implanted a ventricular assist device (VAD) to improve Darius’ quality of life while he waited for a transplant. The VAD is a mechanical device that replaces the function of a failing heart by circulating blood. The first VAD lasted a month, the second VAD lasted only two weeks and the third lasted until Darius received his new heart and kidney on February 9, 2012. The surgery lasted 14 hours in total. The surgery was a success.
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When:
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April
02, 2012, 2:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m.
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Where:
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Jackson Memorial Hospital
Ira C. Clark Diagnostic Treatment Center
Conference Room #252
Corner of N.W. 12th Avenue and 19th Street
Miami, Florida 33136
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Editor’s Note:
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*Media can part outside of the DTC
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# # #
Jackson Health System
1611 N.W. 12th Avenue Miami, FL 33136
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