Arizona boy thankful after rare transplant in Utah
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Ethan Skacy, 13, and his father Francis, attend a press conference at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 8, 2012. On Jan. 30 and 31, 2012, surgeons performed the medical center's first heart/liver transplant on Ethan Skacy. Ethan is the 15th pediatric patient in the United States to receive this dual transplant since 1997. (Photo courtesy: Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
Web Producer: Marissa Pasquet
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A 13-year-old Arizona boy is expressing thankfulness after receiving a new heart and liver in a rare procedure at a Utah hospital.
Ethan Skacy of Tuba City, Ariz., thanked his doctors, family and donor at a news conference Friday at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, where he underwent a 19-plus-hour operation in late January.
The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News report he became only the 15th pediatric patient in the country to undergo a combination heart-liver transplant since 1997.
At the age of 10, he was diagnosed with a condition called hypercholesterolemia in which his liver could not process cholesterol.
Eathan, who's expected to be released from the hospital next week, told reporters he was grateful for the anonymous donor whose organs saved him.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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