Cardiologist thought she arrived for a café interview — then the parents of the kids she saved surprised her
Cardiologist Lori West was thrilled to see patients whose lives were saved because of her daring research 30 years ago.
When Dr. Lori West entered a cafe a few months ago, she thought she was meeting a journalist, a post from @heartandstroke revealed. It wasn’t long before the doctor revealed she was not an interviewer but a mom. The post shared captured the woman’s voice cracking as she revealed that West’s work had saved her daughter’s life. The cardiologist soon realized the cafe was surrounded by parents, teens, toddlers, and kids — all of whom were present because of her groundbreaking research in 1996. West spent years investigating and dared to do something no one did 30 years ago — an infant heart transplant on a child with a different blood type. It saved hundreds of lives, and they were here to say thank you.
According to the Heart and Stroke Organization, Dr. West had been researching heart transplants for kids. The cardinal rule for general procedures was that the blood type had to match, but West asked whether children and infants could receive an infant organ of another blood type, since babies have immature immune systems and can’t generate antibodies against other blood types. Her years of hard work were proving her right, but it was one surgery on an infant, Caleb, that gave a groundbreaking solution to the world. The boy was suffering from hypoplastic left-heart syndrome, a serious condition where the left portion of the heart wasn’t properly developing.
The only hope was a transplant, or Caleb would have a few weeks left. With fingers crossed, West assisted in the first-ever heart transplant for a child with a different blood group. “The surgical team took off the clamps to let blood flow into the heart. The heart didn't start instantly,” she recalled. But that happens, so they waited, and a few seconds in, the blood was flowing. It was that research that filled the cafe with grateful hearts.
As she sat there, children of different ages came through to share their stories. Some are still under 10 years, a few in their teens and 20s, all thanking the cardiologist for giving them a “second chance at life.” “It was quite overwhelming to have all these children, now some of them adults, stand up and talk about the impact of our research,” West said in an interview shared by CBC News. The cafe erupted in applause, all for West, who dared to take a chance 30 years ago to find a life-saving solution for little hearts. “As physicians, we see our patients over the years, but there's almost no other occasion where they're there collectively,” she gratefully remarked.
The Heart and Stroke’s Instagram page is flooded with stories of children who were saved due to West’s research. Following Caleb’s successful surgery, the idea was widely adopted, reducing the death rate of infants on the waitlist from 50% to 10% over the next two years. “Research can’t be seen but the impact can’t be ignored,” the clip shared. Details of a 2024 study shared by tctMD revealed that in the last few years, the waitlist mortality rate in children waiting for heart transplants has dropped by 38%. As of current statistics, one in eight children dies waiting for a heart transplant in the US.
Senior author of the study, MD Christopher Almond of Stanford University School of Medicine, noted that though numbers have dropped, the mortality rate is highest among waitlist mortality of other organs. “We're always looking for ways to try to improve upon that,” he remarked. And West’s efforts played a significant role in never forgetting. Many who couldn’t be at the cafe shared the impact of her work on their lives in the comments. @amanda_lunt wrote, “Because of Dr. West and her research, my nephew was able to have an ABO incompatible heart transplant that saved his life.” @gavinsheartstory added, “Because of Doctor West, my son is here with us today.”
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