3 hospitals deny 7-month-old heart transplant, mom seeks 4th

Katie Marzullo Image
ByKatie Marzullo KGO logo
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Three hospitals deny 7-month-old baby heart transplant
A Bay Area mother is desperately seeking a hospital that will approve her baby girl for a heart transplant after she was denied by three hospitals.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Time is running out for a baby at UCSF Children's Hospital who was born with a rare heart condition.

Her mother is desperately seeking a hospital that will approve the little girl for a heart transplant. "Her smile is just, it melts you. She has the most beautiful smile," her mother Priscilla Brazeal said.

Seven-month-old A'laijah Woody was born with hypo-plastic left heart syndrome, which caused only half of her heart to develop.

She is a rare case needing a heart transplant so young. "Majority of kids with this, they don't need it until they're 18 years old," Brazeal said.

Brazeal, said UCSF, UCLA and Stanford have already rejected A'laijah for a transplant saying her body would reject a new heart.

She's now counting on an opinion from Boston University Hospital, which could come Thursday. "Best case scenario is they can take her and they can do the transplant and try to figure out something with the antibodies. Worst case scenario is they also deny her," Brazeal said.

"I know she's a fighter so, I know she's still fighting, I know there's a chance and there's help out there," A'laijah's step-father Russel White said.

The family is running out time.

Although UCSF was not able to comment in time for this story, Priscilla said she and the hospital agreed to take A'laijah off of life support on Friday. "It was either spend Mother's Day with her how she is here, or spend Mother's Day knowing my baby is not suffering anymore," Brazeal said.

Priscilla is holding out hope that someone will come through with a life-saving option for her baby.

Click here if you would like to help donate to help little A'laijah through the family's GoFundMe account.