171 Ashley Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425
843-792-1414
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Patient Stories
Nehemiah Grayson
Doctors knew from viewing an ultrasound test that Nehemiah Grayson's heart was going to be a problem. Just how serious a problem, they didn't know until after he was born and had been sent to MUSC Children's Hospital. There, they discovered that the newborn's situation was far graver than anyone had imagined.
Nehemiah was suffering from congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension, caused by a hole between the upper and lower chambers of his heart. Further complicating matters, he had a severely accelerated heart rhythm - about 270 to 300 beats a minute.
MUSC physicians resorted to every known treatment to strengthen Nehemiah's heart function. They administered multiple drug therapies. They surgically repaired the hole in his heart. They then implanted an internal defibrillator, making Nehemiah the smallest child in the world every to be fitted with such a device. Later, they fitted him with a dual-chamber pacemaker in an attempt to stabilize his heart rhythm.
Still, his heart could not pump quickly enough. The only remaining option, the team agreed, was a transplant.
On October 2, 1999, Nehemiah Grayson became the youngest patient to ever undergo a successful heart transplant - a procedure he could have received nowhere else in South Carolina.
"Great. Outstanding. Very active, and gaining a lot of weight" said his father Randy, describing Nehemiah's condition. "As a matter of fact, we get comments from people all the time who say that he doesn't look like he's been sick a day in his life."
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