Glen Head dance teacher heads home for Thanksgiving after heart transplant surgery – ROP

With Thanksgiving simply two days away, a 19-year-old dance trainer and Lengthy Island’s youngest coronary heart transplant affected person gave because of the surgeons, medical doctors and nurses on the Sandra Atlas Bass Coronary heart Hospital in Manhasset who saved his life.

Throughout a information convention at North Shore College Hospital in Manhasset, Frankie England Jr. and his household heard phrases of encouragement from Dr. Brian Lima, director of coronary heart transplantation; Dr. Simon Maybaum, vp of cardiovascular analysis and England’s heart specialist; and Dr. Syed Hussain, the attending surgeon who carried out England’s coronary heart transplant.

England, additionally a poet and actor, had been knowledgeable dance trainer because the age of 15. At all times in glorious well being, he all of a sudden grew to become weak to the purpose that even brushing his tooth had turn out to be troublesome. On Sept. 8, he was dropped at the center hospital, having been identified with extreme coronary heart failure.

“When he got here to us, Frankie’s coronary heart was performing at barely 15 % and his kidney and liver have been additionally failing,” Maybaum stated. “We handled him with an intra-aortic balloon pump, which is a mechanical pump to assist his failing coronary heart.”

Maybaum stated that England was positioned on the nationwide coronary heart transplant checklist on Sept. 16.  He needed to wait simply over one month for an acceptable coronary heart to turn out to be out there. His surgical procedure occurred on Oct. 5 and he was in a position to go residence on Nov. 19, simply earlier than Thanksgiving.

“I’m completely satisfied to report that his prognosis is superb,” Maybaum stated.

After explaining essentially the most primary parts of the advanced surgical procedure, Hussain commented on Frankie’s optimistic perspective and the way essential that’s for affected person and doctor alike.

“Frankie is such a particular individual,” Hussain stated. “He grew to become the non-public good friend of each physician and nurse on the unit. We really feel like we’re all a part of one household.”

One of many excessive factors of the day was a particular shock video from Val Chmerkovskiy from “Dancing with the Stars,” and his ballroom colleagues at Dance with Me Studio in Glen Head.

Throughout the minute-long video, which introduced England and his household to tears, Chmerkovskiy spoke on to the younger dancer, providing him phrases of encouragement for the long run and suggesting that sooner or later, “possibly we’ll share a dance ground.”

For his half, Frankie stated the factor he’s most completely satisfied about is realizing that he’ll be capable to rejoin his loving household and that life will return to regular.

“Each morning, I get up and thank the angel who gave me my new coronary heart,” England stated. “I do know I’ve an angel’s coronary heart in my physique, and I wish to deal with it effectively. I wish to thank my dad and mom and my sister, and all my medical doctors and nurses, for giving me this lovely new life.”