Three Hearts, Three Miracles All Over Christmas At Lurie Children's Hospital
CHICAGO (CBS) -- There is no gift more precious.
The heart transplant team at Lurie Children's is behind 34 of them this year, including three in the last past four days. The surgeries are Christmas blessings for families who've waited and waited.
CBS 2's Tara Molina is sharing one of their stories.
Dressed up in her Santa jammies, posing with dad, spunky 9-year-old Olivia Donnelly, woke up Christmas Eve to a call. It was a gift that wasn't on the list that made it to the North Pole this year.
"You're gonna go to sleep," Oliva was told before the surgery. "Mommy and daddy are going to be here when you wake up. It doesn't matter when it is. We will have Christmas when you're awake."
Olivia woke up Christmas morning to a new heartbeat.
"I was 100 percent confident she would be up and sassing us in no time," said ...
This is Olivia's second transplant here at Lurie.
Born with a congenital heart defect, Olivia got a new heart at just 2 years old.
Her body rejected that heart years later.
"It is the waiting game that really wears on you," said xxx
A game that ended for two other families in the past four days.
Little Arya Harris got a new heart the day after Christmas. She's just 6 months old.
"I think being able to do that at Christmas, I can't think of a better Christmas to give a family, honestly," said XXXX
They're gifts doctors Carl Backer and Philip Thrush and the team at Lurie have given 34 times this year.
Working through the holidays was never a question.
But Olivia's dad left us with a message about more than what they were given.
Their miracle was another's loss.
"Watching that ambulance drive up to the ER, carrying your daughter's organ. That's very humbling," said xxxx.
"It makes you realize someone's Christmas Eve is not going as well as yours and that they had to make a very difficult decision.
"And we are blessed and humbled that they made that decision ."
Olivia and Lurie Children's story shining a light on something we've reported more than once- the need for organ donors.
Right now, there are almost 4,000 people in Illinois waiting for an organ, including 229 waiting on a heart
