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thedrifter
03-13-03, 08:00 AM
Son of Marine deployed to Mideast undergoes heart transplant surgery
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By Chelsea J. Carter
ASSOCIATED PRESS
9:17 p.m., March 12, 2003

LOMA LINDA – A new heart for the critically ill son of a Marine who was deployed to the Middle East while his infant child awaited a transplant was located Wednesday and the boy was quickly prepared for surgery, the family told The Associated Press.

The boy's mother, Betsy Sellers, said the heart arrived at Loma Linda University Medical Center at 8:45 p.m.

Her 4-month-old boy, Dillon, was whisked off to surgery minutes later, and Sellers followed him to the operating room, carrying a disposable camera to take his picture. Surgery was expected to last four to six hours.


Dillon gained national attention after it was reported that his father, Maj. Hal Sellers, was forced to decide between duty to family or country. Sellers, 37, said goodbye to his son and left for the Middle East more than two weeks ago.

Dillon was 10 days old when he was diagnosed Oct. 31 with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which occurs when a heart is unable to pump or circulate blood. Although the condition can often be corrected with surgery, doctors said Dillon's heart was too damaged. A transplant was his only option.

It was not immediately known who donated the heart.

"They didn't tell me anything, just that they had a heart and a team was going to get it," Sellers said earlier Wednesday.

"The heart's here," she said minutes after her beeper went off in the waiting room of the hospital's children's wing.

The boy had been at the top of the medical center's heart transplant list.

Betsy Sellers said the Marine Corps had attempted to tell her husband of the surgery Wednesday night, but she didn't know if they were successful in reaching him.

"They sent him an e-mail," she said. "I guess they're trying to call him too. God I hope he hears soon."

As the family struggled with Dillon's diagnosis, Sellers was offered a desk job at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, a small desert town 140 miles east of Los Angeles.

But the 13-year veteran is second-in-command of the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and had trained for months to help lead the Middle East mission. His wife said that, ultimately, he was concerned about bringing in a new member so late in the training.

As she settled in for a long wait at the hospital, Dillon's mother, accompanied by several Marine Corps representatives, brought along several bags of mail from well-wishers to read. One of the letters came with a teddy bear that she planned to give her son after the operation.

Sempers,

Roger

Just heard on Goodmorning America he is doing good.........

DanBO
03-13-03, 08:51 AM
My wife just called me telling me that they have found a heart for his son. The transplant has been completed and Dillon is doing fine. Maj Sellers has been E-Mailed by the Red Cross and has contacted his wife.

"Semper Fi Mac"