GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM After undergoing a heart transplant at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif., 11-year-old Daphne Kawaiaea, right, and her mother, Wallette, returned to Maui yesterday.

Maui heart recipient
home and doing well

Daphne Kawaiaea, 11, went
to California for the transplant

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

KAHULUI, Maui >> Heart transplant recipient Daphne Kawaiaea, who returned to Maui from California yesterday, said she's feeling good and is happy to be going back to life in rural Hana.

"The first thing I want to do is swim in the bay, look at my horse and go home," the 11-year-old said.

Kawaiaea said she named her new horse Stanford, after the Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto where she underwent a heart transplant Feb. 27.

She said she looks forward to attending the seventh grade at Hana High & Elementary School.

Daphne, who is about 5 feet 6 inches tall, has gained about 30 pounds since her surgery, partially because of the medication she is taking to make her body accept the new heart, her family said.

In the last few months, she has been living with her mother, Wallette, in a cottage near the medical center and going for regular examinations.

Wallette Kawaiaea said Daphne will have monthly checkups to determine if the girl's body is accepting the heart.

She said Daphne recently participated in a camp and a hike with other youths who received transplants at the medical center.

While her progress has been quick, Daphne still needs to take more than 20 pills daily and avoid eating salty foods or raw fish because of the potential for bacterial contamination, Wallette said.

The family initially thought Daphne had the flu when she complained of stomach pains and experienced dizzy spells in January.

After Maui physicians discovered she had an enlarged heart Feb. 5, they flew her to Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children on Oahu.

On Valentine's Day, Daphne's heart stopped. Luckily, a team of heart specialists was in her room and performed emergency surgery to revive her.

Daphne's father, Milton Kawaiaea Jr., said physicians found her heart had been severely scarred and guessed that a virus had attacked it two to three years ago.

Kawaiaea said his daughter was active in sports and never showed signs of fatigue or sickness until earlier this year.

Shortly before her illness, Daphne had participated in a keiki rodeo and an interscholastic volleyball tournament, said Milton Kawaiaea, who works as a truck driver and cowboy.

In 2001, she won the barrel races in the keiki competition at the Makawao Rodeo, he said.

The family said Daphne will have to reduce her activities, and they would need a physician's approval before allowing her to participate in a rodeo competition.

Wallette, a secretary at the Hotel Hana-Maui, said her family is grateful for the support people have given them, including the rodeo community and entertainers such as Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, who participated in a benefit concert earlier this year.

"We even had people from the mainland calling us and helping," she said. "It was good."

Those who want to make a donation to the Kawaiaea family to help them with medical expenses may call Daphne's aunt, Roxanne Prito, at 808-575-2836.