Fargo boy receives two heart transplants within four days, recovering at Rochester's Mayo Clinic
A 20-month old Fargo boy is recovering at the Mayo Clinic after undergoing two heart transplants over a four-day stretch this month.
Kobe Giesen was diagnosed with heart problems shortly after he was born.
His heart problems worsened and he was airlifted June 3 from Fargo to Rochester, WDAY-AM radio reported.
Kobe was put on a transplant waiting list a few days later and received his first transplant on Father's Day, June 15.
Shortly after surgery, doctors discovered his new heart was not functioning properly and Kobe was put on the waiting list again, according to WDAY radio.
The second heart transplant surgery was done last Wednesday and that heart appears to be functioning normally, according to Karmen Giesen, the boy's mother.
She told WDAY that both transplanted hearts came from 2-year-old girls in Texas. One died of child abuse and the other girl drowned.
Karmen Giesen said her son will be in Rochester for at least the next three months while doctors monitor his progress.
The Mayo Clinic in Rochester said the surgeries marked the first time doctors there completed two heart transplant surgeries on the same child in a single week.
