In a whirlwind 24 hours, a 15-year-old from Michigan discovered he would be getting a new heart and received the life-saving transplant during an hours-long procedure. A video showing his emotional reaction is making headlines.
Trevor Sullivan’s procedure took place Nov. 13. A video capturing his first waking moments after surgery was posted last week and has been widely circulated online, the teen's father, Philip Sullivan, told NBC Chicago.
"I've waited so long. I'm so happy," Trevor says in the video, through tears. "I can breathe again and can talk."
Sullivan told NBC Chicago his son was released from the hospital about a week and half after the surgery, the day before Thanksgiving.
The family first suspected something was wrong when Trevor felt sick repeatedly throughout September 2014. He recovered, but fell ill again in January 2015.
A month later, a group of cardiologists at a local hospital told the family Trevor's heart was failing. Trevor was airlifted to the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor on Feb. 12.
Trevor was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease that enlarges the heart and makes it difficult for the organ to pump blood through the body, according to TODAY.com.
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After 10 months on a transplant list, the Sullivan family received a call notifying them that their dreams had come true: Trevor had a heart donor. He had the surgery the next afternoon.
Because of national privacy laws, Trevor's family doesn't know much about the heart donor other than the individual was younger person with a good heart and strong muscle tissue.
"We wanted to raise awareness around organ donations; that’s why we did this," Sullivan said.
A GoFundMe has been created for the family, who is documenting Trevor's journey via Facebook.
