Local & State Headlines

Easton’s transplant removed

• The next two weeks are critical for a Lee County boy whose organ transplant had to be removed.

Susan McCord

PITTSBURGH — Nine-year-old Easton Blanchard suffered a setback Wednesday when doctors had to remove the transplanted small intestine he’d received 23 days ago.

The Lee County boy, who has a rare form of muscular dystrophy, began experiencing “oozing” from his abdomen, indicating his body was not accepting the transplanted organ, his mother, Heather Blanchard, said Thursday.

“They took him back in, and when they got in there it was worse than they thought,” she said. “The transplanted intestine was really sick; it was just like tissue paper, it was so thin. When they were trying to remove it, it crumpled.”

Easton, who turned 9 July 2, is in intensive care and has not fully awakened since the surgery, but the family expects him to during the next day or so.

“He knew (Wednesday) afternoon they were going to have to take him back in,” Heather Blanchard said. “We’re just waiting; once he wakes up and is more alert we’ll talk to him about it. He doesn’t know.”

Doctors at Children’s Hospital are not yet sure why Easton’s body rejected the transplant.

“They’ve been up front and honest about it and said, ‘We don’t know what happened,’ ” Blanchard said. “But they said Easton’s was probably one of the worst rejection cases they’ve ever seen.”

His entire body has become septic as it fights an infection in his bloodstream, and the next two weeks are critical, she said.

While Easton is “stable,” his loss of the transplant sends the family “back to the drawing board,” Blanchard said.

His immune system will have to recover from the organ rejection, and then he cannot get back on a transplant list for six months, she said.

Easton had been on a waiting list since January when news arrived June 30 that a transplant had been located from an Arizona child who had drowned. Easton and his parents were jetted that day by a donated medical plane service to Pittsburgh, with other family members following in cars.

The Blanchard family has been raising funds for their living expenses for what was expected to be a lengthy hospital stay while Easton recovered from the surgery.

He will have to return to Pittsburgh several times during the next several months for follow-up visits, Blanchard said.

A silent auction to benefit Easton and the family was held Thursday evening in conjunction with the Homebuilders Association of Albany’s annual raffle.

Despite the setback, knowing the community supports Easton “makes it a little easier,” Blanchard said.

Once Easton wakes up, the family will talk about the future, Blanchard said.

“We’ve kind of looked at it as, everything happens for a reason,” she said. “Easton has a plan set for him. We don’t know what his plan is; only one person knows what his plan is. We know he’s touched a lot of people; we know he’s not done.”

More Headlines>>