Two little boys are now “heart brothers” thanks to one donated heart, which allowed doctors to perform a “rare” surgery that saved the lives of three children.
In February, Hend Almesafri, 11, met John Catoliato, 2, and Teddy Carter, 3, the two boys to whom she donated her healthy heart valves last summer after receiving one herself. The meeting was held at the New York City hospital where their split-root domino heart transplant was performed.
“She was just happy and grateful to be alive,” John’s 38-year-old mother, Joanne Dowling, told PEOPLE. “She was happy to see the boys healthy.”
Dowling wanted to bring a gift for the little girl but wasn’t sure what it should be. “What do you get a person that saved your son’s life?” she inquires about.
On July 25, 2024, Hend had surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital to receive a donated heart. Dr. David Kalfa, who performed the difficult procedure, then performed an aortic valve transplant on Teddy, who was given one of Hend’s healthy valves from her explanted heart. Meanwhile, Dr. Andrew Goldstone performed a pulmonary valve transplant on John.
The lead doctors and a team of medical personnel completed all of the procedures within a 24-hour period.
“A split-root domino partial heart transplant is extremely rare and has been performed only a handful of times – and up until this operation, never in the Northeast,” Goldstone tells me.
The families described the hours-long wait as a “minefield of emotions,” but they were all overjoyed to learn that the surgeries had been successful.
The procedures were critical for the children’s health and quality of life. Hend’s heart muscles were weak, whereas Teddy was born with aortic stenosis, which is an obstructed aortic valve.
John was born with truncus arteriosus, which means he had one vessel exiting his heart rather than two, as well as a hole in his heart.
For Katie Carter, the surgery was the “miracle” she and her husband had hoped for, as their son will hopefully no longer require additional surgery as he grows older.
Instead, the new valves are likely to grow alongside both boys.
John and Teddy both spent more than a week in the hospital to recover, and once home, the couple exchanged notes on their sons’ experiences. The boys had night terrors for months after their surgeries, but they are now completely recovered.
Teddy is doing “amazing,” according to Katie, 42. “We had a scan last week and they told us it looks like a child who never had surgery.”
“He’s gone back to being a wild, crazy child,” she says with a smile.
John also appears to be a fit and active child. “You can’t tell him he’s a CHD [congenital heart disease] baby or a transplant child,” says Tom Catoliato, 41, who describes his son as jumping, playing, throwing tantrums, and running like any other child.
“It’s nice to see the normal behavior of a 2-year-old,” adds the parent, “as opposed to thinking that you have a child that could be sick.”
The parents are grateful to the person who donated a heart to Hend, allowing her to help their sons. They are also grateful to the doctors and staff who gave the boys hearts that will grow alongside them. Teddy says, “I was born with a broken heart, and now it’s fixed.”
