A Millcreek boy got a new heart at the same place his mother received one 23 years ago

Lindsey Allgeier traveled a familiar path Easter Sunday as her 6-year-old son, Jonah, was wheeled through the hallways of the Cleveland Clinic.

It was almost 23 years ago when Allgeier, 39, underwent a heart transplant at the Cleveland hospital following a long battle with restrictive cardiomyopathy.

Now, on March 31, her son was getting a new heart for the very same reason .

"I sat in the wheelchair and carried Jonah for the trip, and we were wheeled to the exact same operating room where I received my heart," Allgeier said. "There were even some of the same transplant people involved."

Jonah's path to a new heart wasn't the same as his mother's, however.

The Millcreek Township boy nearly died Nov. 26 when he went into cardiac arrest after running into his parents' bedroom during the night. Lindsey and her husband Adam Allgeier had to perform chest compressions on their son to help save his life.

Jonah has been at the Cleveland Clinic since November

Jonah was transported to the Cleveland Clinic, where he lived for four-and-a-half months while waiting for a new heart. That call came on March 29, Good Friday.

"We were at our apartment in Cleveland, getting ready to visit Jonah at the hospital," Allgeier said. "It was the transplant coordinator, who was my transplant coordinator all those years ago. She said, 'Lyns, we accepted a heart for Jonah. This is it.'"

The Allgeiers spent the day emotionally preparing Jonah for the surgery and recovery, with his mother recalling what she went through when she was 17. She mentioned being connected to chest tubes, a breathing tube and IV lines when she woke up after surgery.

"My parents had no idea what to expect because they had never gone through anything like a heart transplant," Allgeier said. "I remember feeling frustrated because I was so clueless. We wanted to prepare Jonah as much as we could with a 6 year old."

The Allgeiers then discovered they had another day to prepare Jonah, as the donated heart's arrival was delayed. They were not told why, other than that it often happens because hearts are the last organs taken from donors.

On Easter Sunday morning, hospital staff prepared Jonah for surgery. Allgeier looked up at one point and saw members of the operating room staff in the doorway.

The transplant was happening.

"Because it was Easter, we didn't have many family members at the hospital," Allgeier said. "So we had my sister, Amanda Rodriguez, on video chat as we wheeled to the OR. We hugged Jonah, we prayed and we even had some music playing.

"When we got to where I couldn't go in with him, I told Jonah that he would be amazing and that he would wake up with a brand-new heart."

Cleveland Clinic surgeons find surprise during transplant

It took the surgical team about eight hours to transplant a new heart into Jonah. They also found a surprise.

In addition to cardiomyopathy, Jonah had been diagnosed with partial anomalous pulmonary venous return. It's a congenital heart defect where at least one of his pulmonary veins returned oxygen-rich blood to the wrong side of his heart.

Surgeons expected to find one abnormal vein during surgery. They found three of them, and attached them to the correct places on Jonah's new heart.

"As far as we knew, this hadn't been performed before on a transplanted heart," said Dr. Shahnawaz Amdani, a Cleveland Clinic pediatric cardiologist. "Finding additional veins didn't change the technique. It all went perfectly."

Lindsey and Adam Allgeier went to see Jonah in the pediatric intensive care unit, where — as his mother had told him — he was on a breathing tube and had chest tubes and IV lines as well.

"When I first saw Jonah, I felt really calm and at peace, like everything was exactly how it should be," Allgeier said.

Jonah started a fairly quick recovery

Jonah soon began to stir and tried to talk despite having a breathing tube. Doctors removed the breathing tube within 12 hours after surgery, sooner than expected.

"Jonah said he wanted to sit up, go for a run, play Nintendo and eat ice cream," Allgeier said. "Now, he wasn't allowed to do most of those things at first, but it was a great sign."

The only post-surgery complication was a viral infection but Jonah was able to recover despite a weakened immune system.

He remained in the PICU for four days and was discharged from the Cleveland Clinic on April 17 to live in a nearby apartment with his family.

"It's hospital policy for transplant patients to stay local for a month after surgery," Allgeier said.

Jonah eager to run, go home

Post-surgery testing showed Jonah's heart is working well enough that he might be allowed to go home ahead of schedule.

"Jonah's heart has been completely assimilated by his body and it's pumping great," Amdani said. "His heart looks better than my heart."

As he waits to return home, Jonah spends his days doing schoolwork and running around the apartment.

He no longer tires after a few steps, though his stamina and strength aren't fully back to normal after spending more than four months in a hospital room, his mother said.

"I'm running a lot," Jonah said. "I never get tired. I never will."

Allgeier, who said she relied deeply on her faith both during her heart transplant and her son's heart issues, can't help but see an analogy between her son's Easter miracle and what happened to Jesus.

"Jonah died when he went into cardiac arrest. ..." Allgeier said. "And on Easter Sunday he came back to life with a new heart."

A fundraising website, https://cota.org/cotaforjonahsjourney/ , has been set up through the Children's Organ Transplant Association to help with the family's hospital-related expenses.

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com . Follow him on X @ETNBruce .

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: A Millcreek boy got a new heart at the same place his mother received one 23 years ago