Southwest Transplant Alliance

"He's played baseball all his life. He's been very active," his mother, Lauri Wemmer, said of the star pitcher for the 2005 city champion Sherwood Muckdogs.

But Madden started feeling out of breath, his mother said. His feet were swelling.

On Aug. 13, he visited a pediatrician. He was showing all the signs of heart failure.

"By that evening, we were being flown to Dallas, Wemmer said.

At Children's Medical Center, doctors told the family Andrew would need a heart transplant. Even though he'd been given a 30 percent chance as an infant of someday needing a transplant, his mother was taken by surprise.

"It was always in the back of our minds," she said. "But it was a shock, really, that it had come to this."

Then, the waiting game for a donor - and a long hospital stay - began.

Wemmer received a special pager, designed to go off once a donor had been located.

"Not knowing when it was going to go off, that was kind of nerve racking," she said.

The first time it went off, it was clear it was a false alarm. Dr. Kristine Gulesarian, the surgical director of the hospital's heart transplant program, was in the room.
"She would have gotten a call hours before," Wemmer said.

Then at 6:24 a.m. Sept. 30, the family was awakened from a deep sleep.
"Andrew jumped up and started yelling, 'It's the pager. It's the pager,'" Wemmer said. "It was very exciting."

THE DONOR It was 10 days after Emily Solis was born. Her mother died of a burst brain aneurysm at age 24. It was likely caused by the stress of giving birth for the first time.

"She was a very loving person," Alfonso Solis, Cecilia Solis's husband of six years, said. "She was always very giving. She never had anything bad to say about anybody."

The couple still had "that spark," Alfonso Solis said.

"I was blessed because, even though we were married, we were boyfriend and girlfriend," he said.

When Alfonso Solis had a heart palpitation about a year ago, he said he wanted to make arrangements in case something happened to him. He made sure to make his wishes to become an organ donor clear.

His wife, the giver she was, followed suit.

"God answers prayers," he said. "Sometimes the answer's no, but, if he answers somebody else's prayers, so be it."

THE BIG DAY "OK, this is what we've been waiting for," Wemmer recalls saying the day of surgery. "We were excited and nervous at the same time."

Andrew's surgery was a highly anticipated one, Wemmer said. He was to be the 100th heart transplant recipient at Children's.

Dr. Stephen Ring, who performed the first heart transplant there, would be assisting Gulesarian. Like Andrew, Gulesarian is a Boston Red Sox fan. So she made sure to wear her Red Sox surgeons cap this day.

First, prep work, such as chest X-rays, was done on Andrew. He was taken to a holding room at 1:30 p.m.

At 3 p.m., transplant surgery began. Four hours later, Cecilia Solis's heart was successfully transplanted into Andrew.

DOING FINE So far, Andrew has shown no signs of rejection. His first biopsy is scheduled for Monday. His mother said the "strange murmur" in his heart is gone.

"He's got such good color. Before we came, he was white as a ghost. Now he's pink," Wemmer said. "It's wonderful to hear what a normal heart feels like."

Andrew said he has been "feeling great." He's busy doing physical therapy activities, like arm exercises and walking around.

There's also time for fun.

"I've been playing games with mom," he said. "She's taught me how to play poker."

About the only problem Andrew said he's had is that he's often hungry because of the steroids he's taking.

"I know that I had a new heart and that I don't have all the limitations I had before," he said.

Because Andrew will have to go to Children's regularly for treatments, Wemmer said they would have to stay in the Metroplex until Dec. 21.

But Andrew can't wait to see his friends and get back to school. The former Reagan Magnet Academy student will enter seventh grade at Nimitz Junior High when he returns.

He also wants to see some football games.

"It'll be good to go back home," Andrew said.

But before that he hopes to go to a game of another kind. Wemmer said Gulesarian, whose family has season tickets at Fenway Park, would like to help him go to the World Series if the Red Sox advance past the Cleveland Indians.

"That would be an amazing experience, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Andrew said. "I could just imagine the crowd and the level of energy. I would love it."

THE ROAD AHEAD For Alfonso Solis, 29, and his infant daughter, October will not be a time of celebration. But he knows Emily will need him to be strong.

"She needs her man," he said. "Now I'm gonna be mommy and daddy."

They will move into the Dallas house he had bought with his wife just a month earlier. Along with the kitchen Cecilia Solis loved and the colors she picked out, Alfonso will be reminded of her each time he looks at his daughter.

"I saw my wife's baby picture at the memorial," he said. "I thought, 'My god, it's an uncanny resemblance.' "

Solis is comforted that not only did his wife give life to a daughter in her death, but she helped Andrew and four other organ recipients.

"He received a very loving heart," Solis said. "Cecilia was a very loving person who loved everybody, and everybody loved her.

"As long as her heart is still beating, in a way she's still alive," he said.

PAYING THE BILLS Oddly enough, Solis is a medical bill collector. But he said he tries to be understanding of those who are paying.

"I hate hospitals. I hate being in the hospital," he said. "I know that other people feel the same way."

The bills could be adding up soon for Andrew's family.

"Hopefully we have a lot of good insurance," Wemmer said.

To help out, an account has been set up to raise money toward his bills. Amye Cotton, whose husband coaches the West Texas Tornadoes, Andrew's select baseball team, is trying to set up a golf tournament to help out as well.

In January or February, she plans to have a baseball tournament to raise money. Andrew is hoping to return to the diamond around that time, but, if he can't play, she'd like him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

"We can't do that until January, because people are into football now," Cotton, a fifth-grade teacher at LBJ Elementary, said.

GIVING THANKS Wemmer said she and Andrew have prayed more for the family of the donor than they have for him. She was planning to call Alfonso Solis soon.

"I'm just so grateful - it's not something I take lightly," she said. "I'm honored that he contacted me.

"Andrew and I are very excited to meet them and, hopefully, will become lifelong friends," Wemmer said.

Wemmer's pulling for the Solis family to make it through this difficult time, she said.

"I can't imagine the loss," she said. "We want to hear all about what she was like. What she was interested in."

Solis said Andrew should always work to leave anyplace he goes better than how he found it.

"He's got a second chance at life," Solis said. "Some people don't get that opportunity.

"Make the most of life," he said. "Life is so precious. Don't waste your life."

GETTING HELP

Along with Andrew Madden, the following people also received organs from Cecilia Solis, Pam Silvestri of Southwest Transplant Alliance, said.

>> Kidney: 50-year-old East Coast woman.

>> Kidney and pancreas: 32-year-old East Texas woman.

>> Liver: 22-year-old North Texas man, who plays tennis.

>> Both lungs: 56-year-old North Texas woman.

WANT TO HELP?

An account to help with Benjamin An-drew Madden's medical bills has been set up at First Basin Credit Union. The account number is 1314. For information, call 333-5600.

WANT TO DONATE?

Texas residents can place themselves on organ donor registries one of two ways. First, by expressing their wishes when applying for or renewing a driver's license. Or by registering at www.donatelifetexas.org. >> All organ donation is now done by electronic registry, instead of by using driver's li-cense or organ donor cards.