***UPDATE: A post from the family says Alj made it through successful surgery and is now in recovery.***
After 99 consecutive days in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant, Wednesday was a long time coming for 13-year-old Albert Reginald Jeffries IV, better known as Alj (pronounced “Al-Jay”).
An update was placed on the TeamAlj Facebook page on Wednesday saying that their wishes came true, Alj was getting a heart.
This video was posted to the facebook page of Alj finding out he was getting a new heart:
Alj’s mother, Tina Turner, was away from the hospital for a few moments when the call came in:
I initially got the news about Alj getting the heart from transplant coordinator after giving my baby some space at his request, so I went to use my gift card to get my nails done .. My response after ended in me kicking my feet in the air wanting to get up and shout.
Posted by Teamalj fighting heart disease on Wednesday, March 9, 2016
The teenager spent months at the top of the waiting list for a transplant until the news came in on Wednesday.
“He was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at four months old,” Alj’s mother, Tina Turner, told WCHL earlier this year. “The hospital is an all-too-familiar place for us.”
Dilated cardiomyopathy is described by the American Heart Association as a condition where the heart’s left ventricle, the main pumping chamber, becomes enlarged.
Turner said Alj has been in and out of the hospital throughout his lifetime, including a seven-month stretch immediately following his diagnosis.
Turner is a nursing technician at N.C. Memorial Hospital. She said her co-workers have been “absolutely wonderful” in their care for her son and through donation of additional leave that they have to allow her to stay with Alj. A GoFundMe page was established to help cover the medical cost and the months spent out of work while waiting on the heart transplant.
The surgery at UNC Hospital was scheduled for Wednesday.
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