HAVE A HEART
Young Alto heart transplant recipient celebrates a welcomed 3rd birthday Thursday
BY ROBIN D. BEST
S ometimes a miracle happens just when it is needed.

Hannah Collie is recovering after a heart transplant Aug. 5. This photo was taken of the toddler during the Christmas holidays.

Something was terribly wrong. Two-year old Hannah Collie wasn't well.

Hannah's parents, Jason and Amanda Collie, of Alto, had been watching their beautiful daughter lose energy. She was sickly, had swelling and was blue. They wondered if the heart trouble she had experienced shortly after birth had resurfaced.

The Collies had to carry Hannah back to Children's Medical Center in Dallas four times since May.

Their worst fears would soon be confirmed.

Hannah was going to need a new heart.

Following her fourth heart surgery last October, Hannah should have been better.

"Normally, after that surgery is when her oxygen saturation is supposed to be normal, or close to it," Amanda said this week in an interview. "But she didn't take well to that last surgery and the doctors ended up putting in a stent."

Doctors determined that Hannah's only hope would be a new heart.

Hannah needed a miracle. A lot of those placed on the waiting list hoping for a new heart never get one in time.

"After they decided Hannah was going to need a heart transplant, she was put on the waiting list on Aug. 2," Amanda said.

But that is when the miracle came. "Pray for Hannah" signs placed all over their home community proved to the small town of Alto that some prayers don't spend much time on God's waiting list.

"On Aug. 4 at about 2:30 a.m. they called and said they had a heart," Amanda said. "They had to do some cross-matching and there was one other recipient ahead of Hannah. They said they were checking to see if it would match that child."

A second call confirmed that the heart would go to Hannah, and that it was a perfect match for her.

"I just cried," Amanda said. "Hannah's daddy had gone back home to take care of some bills. I called him and I was crying my heart out.

"I told him we had a heart."

Hannah was rushed to surgery, where she remained for more than 9 hours.

Since the surgery, the news has been nothing but good.

"She's been through a lot," Amanda said. "But every day, she is getting stronger. She is so pink and happy and eating. It's amazing."

The family has high praise for the professional caring offered by Children's Medical Center.

"The nurses and doctors have all been so great," Amanda said. "If not for them, well, I just don't know."

And Alto's miracle continues to grow.

Hannah's grandparents, Marion and Laura Lindsey operate Lindsey's Lazy-L Bar- B-Q, just south of Alto.

"I think it is one of the most miraculous things that could ever be done," said proud grandmother Laura Lindsey. "Her little spirit is so strong. I never thought we'd have to have a heart transplant. But it all happened so fast.

"The Lord has been so good to us and we are so thankful," she added.

The Collie family will have to remain in Dallas for three months, following the heart transplant.

An account in Hannah's name has been opened at Bancorp South Bank in Alto.

"Our friends, family, neighbors and community are just doing amazing things for us," Amanda said. "It allows us to only have to worry about our child and not to have to worry about the financial end of that."

The miracle continues to grow for Hannah and her family. "It is a miracle," Amanda said, reflecting over the last few weeks. "Only one other child has been on the (heart recipient waiting) list and had a heart faster. They had one within 30 hours."

Hannah's transplant was the 13th performed by Children's Medical Center this year, a new record for the hospital. Hers is the 98th transplant overall performed at Children's. Hannah was on the waiting list just 47 hours before getting the call.

Thursday, the family will celebrate Hannah's third birthday, a day that her parents feared would never come.

"It is something you worry about every day - is your child going to live," Amanda said. "A lot of those children have heart attacks.

"It is amazing to see the life in her," she added. "And it is all because some parents donated their baby's heart to our child.

"It is an amazing gift."

"I will never be able to thank them enough," Amanda said.

Hannah has one more miracle on the way: a little brother, Jason Cooper Collie, due to arrive in three weeks.

How to help

More than $7,600 has been raised by local citizens to help defray medical costs for Hannah Collie.

If you would like to help, send a check to Bancorp South, P.O. Box 430, Alto, Tx. 75925, and mark "Hannah Collie" on the check.