Ellie McCloskey was celebrating her eleventh birthday at a game of miniature
golf with her father, Brandon, and her grandparents in November when they
received the long-awaited call that she had an offer for a donor heart.
On Nov 15 at around 4:20 a.m. Ellie entered surgery at the Lucille Packard
Children’s Hospital in Stanford, Calif. and successfully received the donor
heart transplant.

“The 14 hours I was waiting (during the procedure) were the longest in my
life,” Brandon said.

The McCloskey’s discovered in June that Ellie was in urgent need for a heart
transplant due to complications from Dilated Cardiomyopathy, a heart
condition Ellie was diagnosed with at age seven.

The Mount Hood family had been waiting since July in Palo Alto, Calif. for a
suitable donor heart with the appropriate size, blood type and a similar
enough antibody profile for the procedure.

When the call came in that a donor heart was finally available Brandon said
that the initial rush of relief from the news gave way to more concern as the
family rushed to prepare Ellie for the high-risk surgical procedure.

Now the family is excited to report that at the one-month biopsy on Dec. 16,
Ellie was 100 percent grade 0 for organ rejection and does not have a single
sign of her body rejecting the heart transplant.

“It’s very hard to believe that just one month ago Ellie had her heart replaced
with a new heart and is doing so incredible,” Brandon said. “Ellie is really
getting back to herself. She can walk up and down stairs without getting

winded, she can walk all over the store, all over town really, without having to
take a break.”

Ellie still has a long road ahead before she is ready to return home to the
Mount Hood region.

She currently has weekly visits to the hospital for blood analysis and
monitoring to make sure her anti-rejection medicine is functioning properly.
She’ll undergo additional biopsies of her heart material at six, eight and
twelve weeks after the surgery.

The McCloskey’s are anticipating the possibility of returning home in mid-
February if Ellie’s test results continue to produce the best possible outcome
with no signs of organ rejection.

Even with the best outcomes, Ellie will have a lifelong process of testing and
monitoring her new heart ahead of her.

“Ellie’s traded being a heart failure patient for being an organ transplant
patient,” Brandon said.

Brandon attributes part of the positive response thus far to the fact that Ellie
is the first Stanford pediatric patient to receive a heart transplant using the
TransMedics Organ Care System (OCS) transport system, commonly referred
to as the “heart in a box.”

The device is a portable, warm perfusion and monitoring system designed to
keep a donor heart at a human-like, metabolically active state. The heart is
kept warm and is alive and pumping prior to the surgery. This allows for an
increased transport range and has a greater than 80 percent survival rate for
patients six months after transplant.

Although the McCloskey’s are happy to report positive news regarding the
recovery process the lengthy stay in Palo Alto while maintaining their home on
the mountain continues to be a financial challenge.

The family is continuing to accept community support on their GoFundMe
page for medical expenses and the process of getting Ellie settled back at
home.

In the meantime, Ellie has been enjoying playing with remote control cars,
reading and doing arts-and-crafts while she is recovering.

Brandon reports that Ellie is really looking forward to being able to go outside
and explore without physical limitations and finally take part in hikes and
other activities she was unable to do before the transplant.

The McCloskey’s are excited to plan a tentative trip to Yosemite by way of
Crater Lake for when Ellie has recovered from the surgery and has a stable
condition that allows travel.

Continued updates will be available on the McCloskey’s GoFundMe page at
https://gofund.me/690e9509.

“She’s really able to be a kid again. It’s amazing,” Brandon said.