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Kula boy recovering WAILUKU >> A 15-year-old boy has become the second known heart transplant recipient on Maui in less than a month.
after receiving
heart transplant
He is the second person from
Maui in a month to get a heartBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comMatthew McCall of Kula was recovering in an intensive care unit at the University of California-Los Angeles Medical Center yesterday, about a week after his surgery on March 11.
Daphne Kawaiaea, 11, a Hana resident and the other heart recipient, was recovering in a cottage with her mother, Wallette, near the Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif., following her surgery on Feb. 27.
McCall's mother, Peggy, said Matthew was recovering slowly, with his color improving.
"He's doing good. He was always a grayish, bluish color," she said. "Now he's pink."
She said her son is being fed intravenously and also is being treated for a kidney problem.
She said he cannot talk but can whisper to her.
Matthew was born with a congenital heart condition and has gone through several surgeries, family members say.
He was frequently sick and unable to attend school, and he had difficulty getting from one class to the next at Kalama Intermediate, said his grandmother June Suzuki.
"The last year has been difficult for him," she said.
Family friend Terrence Shimizu said Matthew has been brave through all of the operations and the pain.
"The guy has had a very hard life," Shimizu said. "He's always been wise for his age. He's just a real good kid."
Last summer during a regular checkup, physicians told the family that Matthew needed a new heart, and he moved in with his divorced father in Las Vegas and closer to the medical center in Los Angeles.
Peggy McCall said some physicians disagreed whether Matthew really needed a new heart, leading to his name being temporarily taken off the list of heart transplant recipients.
Matthew returned to Maui briefly in February to visit his family, and he went to Hilo to watch one of his brothers, Scott Prather, play his final basketball game for the University of Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans.
Matthew went back to Las Vegas on March 6 and was placed on the list again, just days before a heart became available.
Peggy McCall, who is on leave from her job as room service assistant manager at the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa, said while the transplant was covered by insurance, the family is facing thousands of dollars in uninsured medical bills.
But she said she has not had time to think about the financial problems and is spending as much time as possible at her son's side.
Those wishing to help may send donations in care of Peggy McCall, RR 3, Box 669, Kula, HI 96790.
She said because of hospital policy, she does not know the identity of the heart donor, and she feels sad for the person dying.
"But it really gives someone a chance to live," she said. "It's amazing."