Change of heart
A mother shares how her son received a second chance
at life, despite all odds stacked against him
 On June 15, 2001, Richard Lee White (right) graduated from Fontana High School. He poses for a photo with his mother, Bobbie White, after the ceremony. |
Richard Lee was a gift from God. We didn't think we'd have any more children after our two daughters. But 10 years later, he was born with an aortic valve disorder. His heart had two prongs instead of three.
The doctors told us he'd be okay until age 13, when he'd need open-heart surgery. He made it to 11 years old.
In the summer of 1995, Anees Razzouk [MD], repaired Richard's heart by making three prongs. We hoped that would last, but Richard got bad again eight months later.
They decided he would need another surgery, which was set for December, 1996. The morning of the surgery, he got sick, so they rescheduled for January 3, 1997.
We were here at 5:45 a.m. The doctors had already decided to do the Ross procedure, which is an aorta valve transplant. We thought, "It'll be just like last time. He'll do really good and be out in five days."
Noon came and passed. One o'clock came and passed. We thought they were just running behind. Then, the operating room called. They had run into a problem, and they couldn't take him off bypass.
I saw Ranae Larsen [MD], his pediatric cardiologist, and asked her if she'd heard anything about Richard.
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Doctors involved Richard and his family are grateful for the compassion of his Loma Linda University Children's Hospital physicians, Anees J. Razzouk, MD, associate professor of surgery, School of Medicine; Ranae L. Larsen, MD, associate professor of pediatrics, School of Medicine; Leonard L. Bailey, MD, chair, surgery, School of Medicine; Ojogho Okechukwu, MD, transplant surgeon, LLUMC; Michael C. Cervantes, clinical social worker for heart transplant, LLUMC; Kevan Craig, DO, instructor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, School of Medicine; and all those who became family to the Whites during this experience. |
She called down to surgery, and I knew something was wrong when she turned and looked at me. She said, "I'm sorry. There's been complications, and they can't get his heart to start. I'll go down there right now and let you know."
I thought I was going to lose him. Finally, at about 5:20 p.m., Dr. Razzouk called me from the operating room. "We're still working on him. We can't get his heart to beat. We can't get him off bypass."
I said, "Please, don't give up."
They brought in another team and did bypasses and cleared out all the arteries. They redid everything.
Richard had a heart attack on the table, and they lost him a few times. At about
7:00 p.m., they came to us and said, "We got his heart to start, but it's just enough to keep him alive. They're bringing him out of surgery, but we wanted to warn you that they aren't going to close his chest."
The team brought him down the hall, and it was unbelievable. I'd never seen anything like it--all the tubes and pumping machines, keeping him alive. They did not expect him to live through the night.
I remember seeing him the next morning, and his chest was open with clear plastic over it. I could see the blood pumping and watch the machine keep him alive. He lay like that for about four or five days.
Need for a transplant
 After completing the 1999 Relay for Kids sponsored by the Ronald McDonald House, Richard and his parents, Bobbie and Richard Lee White, pose for a photo by Michael C. Cervantes, clinical social worker for heart transplant. (The photo on page 44 was also taken by Mr. Cervantes.) |
We were in shock. We just didn't understand what was going on. But after I saw him laying there, I didn't think he was going anywhere. I thought that sometime I'd walk in there and he'd be sitting up.
Dr. Razzouk was here for three days; he never went home. He would pray, and every time he saw us, he cried. It hit him so hard. Dr. Razzouk was our family. Without his support and the love he gave us, I don't think we would have made it.
The next night, Richard had a stroke, and they had to take him off the machine because it was killing him. Richard was on dialysis because his kidneys had shut down. He was ice cold; he had pneumonia; he had an infection throughout his whole body. They didn't know how he was alive. Only about 10 percent of his heart was beating to keep him alive.
I remember standing there, and he had yet to open his eyes. But he did that morning, and he looked at me. I saw death. It was like his face had transformed.
I asked the doctors, "Can't you just cut me open, take my heart out?" But they said they couldn't do it. The next day, the team told me Richard needed a transplant. I was in shock; I didn't think he needed one. I just thought he was going to get better. I was really believing this.
When I look back on these times, I realize all the little things God was doing--steering the doctors in a different direction. Everything that happened was a miracle. The hospital staff said they felt the spirit of God come in with Richard.
‘I want my son alive'
 Anees J. Razzouk, MD, associate professor of surgery, School of Medicine, poses with Richard White in the rehabilitation unit two months after Richard's transplant. |
Our entire family was having a hard time with this. Why was he just laying there? Were they going to let him live? Were they going to let him die? He needed 24-hour care. When they turned him over, he had sores. Richard was dying. It was eating him from the inside out, and his body was deteriorating.
We asked if he was still on the transplant list, and Dr. Razzouk said that Richard was taken off status one because he was too ill and wouldn't make it through the procedure. Instead, he was placed on waiting status.
The neurologists told us that Richard was gone. They said he'd never talk, never walk, he'd never be anything but a vegetable. If a patient is that bad, they won't transplant.
The night of February 5, I was feeling very frustrated. Richard was just laying there. But we would talk to him, and he would blink. He'd open his eyes once in a while, and he'd kick his leg in the air. That's all he did.
I thought, "He's there. I don't know what the doctors are saying, but Richard Lee is still there." I would read to him, and we had him listen to music; we knew he was there.
That night, I asked Dr. Larsen what they were going to do. She said, "I don't know, but he's really bad. I don't know if he would want to live that way."
I told her, "I don't care how he is. I love him and I want him alive. I don't know what's in store, or what damage has really been done. I might be selfish, but I want my son alive."
While she was there, I told her to call him, to talk to him. She did, and he would blink for her and kick his leg up. He acknowledged her voice.
Back on status one
After witnessing that, Dr. Larsen called the entire transplant team together. They voted unanimously to put Richard back on status one and give him a transplant. Whether he made it or not, that's all they had left to give him. Richard would also need a kidney transplant.
Friday morning, February 7, the miracle started. I got up about 3:00 a.m., and
I thought, "Something's going to happen today."
I was just going out the door at 6:00 a.m., when my pager went off. It read, "Unit 5800," which was Richard's unit.
I knew something was wrong, so I ran over to the Children's Hospital. As soon as I hit the front doors, my pager went off again.
It read, "5800, 911."
I reached Richard's hall, and looking down it I could see Dr. Bailey and Dr. Razzouk talking right outside Richard's room. People were running in and out of his room, but I was told to wait; the doctors would come out to see me. I was getting really scared. Then Dr. Razzouk came to tell me, "We lost Richard Lee this morning, but we got him back. He has very little time left. He may make it through 11:00 a.m."
I started crying, and I was by myself. I was accepting the fact that I was going to lose him, but I didn't know who I should call. Who should be with me when my son dies?
I was there with Richard for a little bit, but I was asked to step out because they needed to do something. I thought he might die while I was gone.
I decided to go pray in the children's chapel. I hadn't prayed in seven years. My cousin had told me earlier, "God's not going to do anything for Richard Lee until He hears from you." I hadn't prayed sincerely yet, so that morning, I prayed from my heart. Just as I started to say, "Amen," my pager went off again--"911." My first thought was, "He died, and I wasn't there."
I went running up there, and the nurse came out, saying, "Bobbie, they got a heart for him."
The miracle arrives
We started watching the sky, and every time a helicopter would come in, we'd think it was bringing an organ for Richard.
Later that morning, we saw an unmarked Army helicopter flying in, and I watched it from the window. I thought, "Oh, wouldn't that be something if it was a heart for Richard Lee?"
The sad part is that a boy about Richard's age lost his life to save my son. The other boy was in a car accident, and they had him in unit 5700 of the Children's Hospital.
The doctors already had a kidney they were going to give Richard, and it was from this boy. The helicopter we saw was coming to pick up the boy's heart and lungs for a transplant at UCLA.
When they arrived at Loma Linda, they discovered the lungs were damaged, so they didn't want them. They didn't want the heart either. There was nothing wrong with it, but the people from UCLA were going to scrap it because they wanted the lungs and heart for their transplant to come from the same donor. They asked the doctors at Loma Linda if they needed it.
At the same time, there was another little girl there waiting for a transplant. She was moved into Richard's spot on the list when he was taken off status one earlier. I knew her parents, and I had no ill will toward them. I didn't want her to lose her life either, but she was walking the halls. I thought, "My son's dying, and they're going to give the heart to this little girl."
They didn't even have time to put Richard back on status one in the computer, this happened so fast. They took him into surgery and gave him the heart that should have gone to the little girl.
God was steering everything. By all rights, Richard should have died. The next night, Richard went back into surgery for the kidney, and that's when a heart came in for the little girl. There were miracles running all through this hospital.
Life with a new heart
When he woke up about 10 days after the transplant, he had no idea how much time had passed. He thought it was the next day after his admission to the hospital, when actually, eight weeks had passed.
Richard has come so far. He was paralyzed from the neck down due to the strokes, so they were treating him as
a spinal cord injury. He's regained more function than we ever thought he would. He wasn't supposed to talk or walk or do anything, and here he is, talking and walking.
We're hoping someday he'll be out of his wheelchair for good. He can't walk at school, but he'll walk around at home with braces on his legs.
God has something planned for him. We don't know what it is yet. Richard's still feeling his way. But I think this happened in part to bring me to God. I realized what He did to save my son.
We are thankful for each day we have and cherish every minute together. We don't take for granted the little things anymore, like we did before.
We pray that Richard's experience will give others hope. Even in the worst situations, you want to hang on to every second you've got left and pray a lot. Leave it for God to decide.
Now, we leave everything up to God. I've realized that I can't make Richard well. And I realized the doctors couldn't make him well. There was only one other place to turn, and that was God. I accepted what He would decide. But I wouldn't be able to live without Richard, and I think God knew that.
I always tell Richard, "Because your life was saved, my life was saved." I'm not strong enough to lose my child. I've seen people do it, and I couldn't.
When things get hard, and I feel I can't do it anymore, I talk to God and it's okay again. We have to get through it. This is my son.
Richard Lee walked into this hospital--he didn't walk out.
But he did leave.
Since his transplant four years ago, Richard has not experienced any rejection. He admits there are struggles, but he maintains a courageous and upbeat spirit. "I take things day by day," he shares, adding that life after the transplant has been rewarding.
He graduated from Fontana High School in June, 2001, and will attend Chaffey Community College, Rancho Cucamonga, in the fall. He plans to get an associate's degree and become a general contractor.
Richard appreciates spending time with his family. He also enjoys boating, flying RC planes, fixing cars, and building his dune buggy.
"My other big goal is to get out of this wheelchair, so I can ride roller coasters at the amusement parks," he says.
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