Henya Grossman and Yair Broyer with their son Nathaniel on his first birthday in Nov. 2023.Photo:Joe Carrotta / Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone
Joe Carrotta / Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone
It’s been a long journey for the couple, who married in January 2020.
“I was shocked,” says Grossman, 23. “It was an absolutely normal pregnancy.”
“I was afraid,” Grossman tells PEOPLE. “I didn’t want to lose him.”
Nathaniel Grossman on his first birthday.Joe Carrotta / Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone
“My biggest fear was that I will give birth, and he will be alive, but he will suffer a lot and then he will die,” Grossman says.
Determined to do everything possible to save their son, the couple left their family and friends in El’ad, Israel and traveled to New York on November 6, 2022 for a second opinion.
“We can’t not fight for his life,” Broyer, 28, remembers thinking. “We have to fight for his life. We have to do whatever we can to save him.”
A child life specialist plays with Nathaniel at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone.Joe Carrotta / Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone
“I was just full of love — full with love that I’ve never known before,” says Grossman. I was so happy that he was born and he was alive… Even though I knew that he might die.”
There are about 500 pediatric heart transplants in the US each year, according to thePediatric Heart Transplant Society.The average wait time for an infant to receive a heart transplant in the New York City area is six to nine months.
“The hardest part is waiting,” saysDr. Rakesh Singh, 48, pediatric cardiologist and Medical Director of theNYU Langone Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program. “Unfortunately, there just are not enough donor hearts available for small children, and they actually are the ones who die at the highest rate waiting for a heart.”
Doctors had to work to keep Nathaniel alive long enough to receive a donor heart.
“Many pediatric heart transplants are performed in the United States — what’s unique about Nathaniel Grossman is that we used a different strategy,” saysDr. T.K. Susheel Kumar, 49, surgical director of NYU Langone’s Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program.
Normally when babies are born with severe heart failure and don’t stabilize with a ventilator and medications, an artificial heart machine, called aBerlin Heart, is used until they can receive a transplant. But that device carries significant risks, like bleeding, stroke, infection or death, according to Dr. Singh.
Nathaniel’s care team at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone.Joe Carrotta / Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone
“I realized we could use the right heart to carry the left function,” Dr. Kumar says. “I felt it would be safer.”
“Every day, it was a fight for his life,” Broyer says.
“Sometimes it was too much pain to see, but then he was smiling,” Grossman says. “In the hardest moments, he knew always to give me a smile.”
Nathaniel’s heart transplant was performed on June 16. “The heart started up right away,” Dr. Singh says. “It’s really amazing to watch. It’s like magic.”
Nathaniel with his parents.Joe Carrotta / Hassenfeld Childrenâs Hospital at NYU Langone
Joe Carrotta / Hassenfeld Childrenâs Hospital at NYU Langone
It was the best day of his life, Broyer tells PEOPLE. The donor heart worked perfectly. After the transplant, Nathaniel made “rapid progress,” Dr. Kumar says. He was soon sitting up, smiling and interacting with nurses.
“He is quite remarkable,” Dr. Kumar says.
Nathaniel was discharged from the hospital on Aug. 25, and is now living in Brooklyn with his parents. They plan to stay in the U.S. at least until a year after his transplant so he can be close to his medical team.
“He is the most amazing boy,” Grossman says. “He’s a fighter. He’s very strong.”
On Wednesday, Nathaniel and his parents visited his hospital family to celebrate his first birthday. They hope that he can have a normal, healthy childhood. His prognosis is good, Dr. Singh says – the donor heart should last for more than 25 years. There is documentation of newborn heart transplant patients that are more than 40 years old.
“There is hope. Don’t give up,” Grossman says. “I know that he’s a miracle.”
source: people.com
