First female newborn heart transplant recipient rides Rose Parade float on New Years Day

Highland News
Photo: Leilah Dowsari (second from left) is presented with a well wishes poster at a Donate Life event on the evening of Saturday, December 29 from (left to right) the director of referral development at LLUMC Transplantation Institute, Julie Humeston; American physician and public health administrator who works closely with the St. Lazarus Foundation, Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu; and Charles Beardon who was part of the procurement team for Dowsari’s first transplant in 1986.

Former transplant patient from Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC), Leilah Dowsari, was one of 32 transplant recipients riding the 2013 Donate Life float in the Tournament of Roses Parade on Tuesday, January 1.

In January 1986, Dowsari, now 26 years old, became the first female newborn to ever receive a heart transplant and the first newborn to ever be place on the national waiting list. Known as “Baby Eve," Leilah received her new heart from 10-day old “Baby Eric” from Atlanta, Ga. when she was just 17 days old. The heart from “Baby Eric” took her to age 14. She has had two heart transplants since then and continues to beat the odds every day.

In August, 2011, Leilah had a baby of her own, Gabriel, and could not be happier.

“To be a rider on the Donate Life Rose Parade float means the world to me and signifies the hope this organization brings in to people’s lives,” Dowsari said.

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