CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) - Time.
It’s so powerful, it can make moments go on for hours and lifetimes last a minute.
“I was kind of like, the world was moving around us, but it was just my husband, Easton, and I all together,” said Kaitlyn Sinnamon.
For baby Easton’s first thirty minutes in this world, time moved slowly for mom and dad, Kaitlyn and Brandon.
“For me to hold him, it took two to three people to put him on my lap and I couldn’t move,” remembered Kaitlyn.
But soon after, everything sped up.
“You can’t fully prepare to walk into that,” said Kaitlyn.
Easton was born with a heart condition. He had his first surgery at five days old and then spent the next six months in the hospital, waiting for a new heart.
Kaitlyn said, she still remembers one time when she got a phone call in the middle of the night.
“It was probably 2 or 3 in the morning, they said Easton’s taking a turn for the worse,” said Kaitlyn. “They said, you need to come here and get here as soon as you can. When we got there, he was paralyzed and sedated.”
When it seemed like their time was running out, things changed.
She was in Easton’s hospital room on a weekend when their doctor walked in and asked them a question.
“How do you feel about going down to the OR for a transplant?” Kaitlyn remembered him asking. “I didn’t believe him at first and he said, no we have a match and Easton’s going to get his transplant tonight.”
However, it wasn’t just a heart transplant Easton was getting. On top of that, he was the first person in the world to receive both an organ transplant and undergo a thymus procedure.
“That thymus is now growing up with the new heart transplant, it’s growing up with the patient it’s transplanted into- so everything it’s growing up with, it’s tolerant to,” said Dr. Joseph Turek, the Chief of Pediatric Heart Surgery at Duke Health.
Turek said doctors have been studying the ‘thymus’ for years. Not many people know what it is, but it’s a gland that’s on top of the heart that produces immune cells. Turek said, at Duke Health, they’ve been doing thymus procedures for years on patients. However, Easton is the first patient to receive both.
“We can retrain that immune system to think that the new heart is also itself- that’s really what happened here in Easton’s case,” said Turek.
“We know on one of the best days of our lives, it’s a family’s worst day and that’s something we can’t take for granted,” said Kaitlyn.
Easton had his surgery in the summer, almost six months ago. He’s home now and Kaitlyn said, what they’ve gone through will help countless people.
“It’s not only going to help Easton, it’s going to help millions of other people as well. Why would we not do this for him?” said Kaitlyn.
Easton just had his first birthday, a celebration that Kaitlyn wasn’t sure would happen. He’s also had other firsts, like coming home, meeting great-grandma, and even standing on his own.
“He’s very curious, he gets into absolutely everything. He loves his voice and is very vocal about lots of things,” said Kaitlyn, with Easton on her lap.
As for time, they’ve got plenty of that.
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