Local Boy Recognized as “Heart Hero”
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – The American Heart Association recently visited Crockett Elementary School to kick off heart month and inspire the kids to keep their heart health in mind. One seven-year-old student, Matthew Easley, needed no reminding. Born with heart issues, Matthew underwent a heart transplant when he was just five months old and was heralded as a “heart hero” by the group.
Matthew’s father Stephen said he and Matthew’s mother found out before he was born there was something not quite right with the ultrasound, leading to the diagnosis of some problems with Matthew’s heart. Traveling back and forth from Houston County to Woodlands hospitals even before the baby came, the family moved into the area, staying wherever they could, from an old RV to a friend’s garage apartment.
Easley said there must have been 100 people in the delivery room when Matthew entered the world – all knowing about Matthew’s issues and dedicated to making sure he and mom would survive the ordeal. Warned he would be born a blue color, everyone was surprised to see the pink little baby come into the world, giving hope he would be able to overcome the very heart which threatened his little life.
The first child for the family, it was the news no one wanted to hear. Constant worry, stress, trying to find a place to stay, how to pay the bills and deal with the many different doctors and specialists.
Stephen said the family was sitting together around one in the afternoon when the call came. Doctors had said there would be little warning when a donated heart might be located – or maybe none at all. Texas Children’s Hospital had found a heart and off the little family went, hoping for the best, unable to do much to help or affect the situation.
“The doctors called and said, ‘It’s time.’ And we said, ‘Time for what?’ We didn’t expect it at all. Matthew was five months old,” father Stephen remembered.
Stuck in the hospital waiting room, the operation began about midnight, with the family getting updates from hospital staff as each stage in the operation went forward. Time, which always moves slower when you are staring at a clock, grinned forward as the young parents wondered now Matthew was doing.
It was shortly after 6 a.m. – six hours after the operation began – when Matthew’s new heart beat on its own for the first time.
Matthew spent another month in the hospital before he could finally come home. It was the day after Christmas that year when the hospital gave the go-ahead for the family to bring little Matthew home. The doctors’ visits became more infrequent, the weekly checkups turned to once a month, then once a year.
Matthew will always have to deal with his transplant, still suffering irreversible effects from his long stay in the hospital. He and his new heart, though, are beating brighter than ever, and his parents are still proud of their little boy who – in spite of every reason to give up and give in – kept going, until his new little heart was able to beat all by itself.
According to the American Heart Association, over 23,000 children suffer from cardiac arrest each year and timely checkups can keep those hearts beating.
For the Easley’s there were more blessings in store. Three, to be exact, as their next baby proved to be three, triplets. The three little girls have had no heart problems and are healthy and happy.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
