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Letter to the editor

U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young and wife help save a new life

By Melanie Ave, Times Staff Writer
Published February 29, 2008

Braelyn Solares is comforted by a nurse before her heart transplant. She was born with only half of her heart functioning.
	[Solares family]

ADVERTISEMENT [Martha Rial | Times] Derek Solares kisses his wife, Erinn, in the bedroom their newborns will share with big brother Caleb, 3, once they are home from the hospital.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Braelyn Solares was born a sick little girl.

The left side of her heart never developed. She needed a transplant or her odds of surviving were nil.

Her mother held the 4-pound, 12-ounce baby for only seconds before the infant was whisked away, given special medications and hooked to machines.

On Thursday, the 1-week-old twin was recovering from the transplant of a strawberry-sized heart at All Children's Hospital.

Her condition? Good.

Her parents: All smiles.

But the surgery almost didn't happen. It took some high-powered string-pulling, a lot of prayers, a little luck and a few tears along the way.

Coast Guard Seaman Derek Solares, 24, and his wife, Erinn, 25, of St. Petersburg, knew early in the pregnancy one of their unborn girls was in trouble.

Tests showed the smallest one had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which prevents the left ventricle from developing fully. The severe defect leaves the heart unable to pump oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.

Many children with the defect die within a week.

All Children's transplant coordinator Jennifer Carpellucci called it "quite possibly one of the worst" congenital heart defects.

Some children can survive with a three-step surgery. For others, a transplant is needed.

But tiny donor hearts are rare.

Between 1995 and 2007, 1,092 babies died while awaiting hearts, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Soon after Braelyn's Feb. 18 birth, and that of her younger sister, Addison, who weighed in at a healthy 6 pounds, 5 ounces, the Solareses learned their only option was a transplant.

The couple said a big hitch came when their military insurer, Tricare Management Activity, said it could not allow the baby's name to be added to transplant list because All Children's was not certified by the company for that procedure.

That's when Daddy, an Iraq war veteran, got on the phone with just about everyone he knew.

"Derek called me on my cell phone," said Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young and a vocal champion of veterans. "He was crying. He said, 'Can you please help my baby?'"

She called the Navy's surgeon general, who came up with the name of Tricare's deputy director, Maj. Gen. Elder Granger.

About 10 a.m. Monday, Granger and Rep. Young talked.

Young was told All Children's was not certified by Tricare and the closest hospital for a pediatric heart transplant was in Georgia.

"This was crazy," Mrs. Young said. "Tricare was just going to sit back and let it roll. I'm not going to pretend to be kind. You're telling a 4-pound baby she needs to go another state if she wants a chance to live?"

Young, equally upset, told Granger "who the hospital was," he said. "They were so prominent in cardiac and heart-related issues for infants and children. I explained the seriousness of the Solares' case.

"Something needed to be done to save this baby's life."

By 7 p.m. Braelyn Solares was cleared for a transplant at the highest status possible.

Tricare spokesman Austin Comacho said All Children's was certified for a pediatric heart transplant Tuesday.

About 2 a.m. Tuesday, the family got a call.

A heart was available. Time was of the essence.

"We were home at the time," Solares said. "They told us to get some sleep. It would be a while. We tried but it seemed like months and months."

Much of the fear subsided.

"I was so scared over this," Mrs. Young said. "We almost ... missed that heart."

And for all the fretting over Tricare, Solares, who earns $1,800 monthly, said he is thankful for his medical insurance. A heart transplant can cost between $400,000 and $1.5-million.

"They do cover just about everything," he said.

* * *

A team of doctors led by Dr. Paul Chai gave Braelyn her new heart in a multihour surgery that did not end until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

When the Solareses finally saw their daughter, she looked the same, just hooked to more machines.

"She had a nice mark on her chest," Mrs. Solares said. "It's going to heal beautifully."

"I've gotten worse cuts from paper," her husband joked.

The first two to three days after surgery are the most critical.

All Children's transplant coordinator Carpellucci said Braelyn is doing very well and could go home in a couple of weeks.

Braelyn was the hospital's 99th heart transplant since its first one in 1995.

A 1999 review by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department found the hospital's heart transplant program among the nation's best. At the time, for example, patients on waiting lists received a transplant within 12 months.

"Newborns usually have a better prognosis than older kids," said Kristin Rosenberg, All Children's transplant coordinator. Surviving transplant recipients "normally have a very good quality of life. That's the goal."

Solares said his family, which includes 3-year-old son Caleb, is cautious yet optimistic. They know the days and months ahead will be difficult.

"The big picture is scary," he said. "One day at a time is not so bad."

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Melanie Ave can be reached at mave@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8813.

[Last modified February 29, 2008, 01:20:45]