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Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center: Double lung transplant for 17-yearold patient, one of the Youngest COVID Transplants in The World younger patient, and No. 2, the patient neither died from COVID, and he didn’t recover either,” Loor said. “He was somewhere in between.
Dr. Gabriel Loor
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ehind round, wire-rimmed glasses, Jose Chavez’s eyes flicked between his mother and his hands on his lap. He took shallow breaths with his new lungs as he spoke about his experience battling COVID-19, which he contracted in September 2020. He was 16 then, and only a few days back in virtual high school. Now 17, Jose underwent a double lung transplant in January 2021, making him one of the youngest “COVID transplants” in the world, according to his surgeon, Dr. Gabriel Loor, surgical director of lung transplantation at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. “The doctors were saying that his lungs were like rocks,” said his mother, Ana, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 at the same time as her son. She was never hospitalized for her infection. A year into the coronavirus pandemic, COVID transplants are becoming more common for patients who get over the initial infection but can’t breathe without the help of a ventilator or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine (ECMO), Dr. Gabriel Loor said. But lung transplants, even for COVID-19, are exceedingly rare for 17-year-old boys. Much about Jose’s case is rare, said Loor. “No. 1, he’s a
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A YEAR INTO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, COVID TRANSPLANTS ARE BECOMING MORE COMMON FOR PATIENTS WHO GET OVER THE INITIAL INFECTION BUT CAN’T BREATHE WITHOUT THE HELP OF A VENTILATOR OR EXTRACORPOREAL MEMBRANE OXYGENATION MACHINE (ECMO). DR. GABRIEL LOOR
COVID-19 hit four out of five members of the Chavez family last fall. Though they’re not sure where it originated, Jose’s father was the first to feel sick and test positive. From there, Jose, his mother, and his younger brother felt symptoms and took numerous COVID tests. Compared to Jose, the rest of his family had mild cases. But he ran a 105-degree fever for several days — Tylenol and fluids did nothing to help, his mother said. About eight days after his positive COVID test, the Brownsville teen was admitted to a hospital. And while he was moved to hospitals in three different cities — Harlingen, San Antonio, and Houston — one thing remained constant for the following five months: He lived in a hospital bed. He lost his ability to discern place and time, his mother said. On the rare occasions when he opened his eyes, Jose would groggily ask where he was. The answer always came: In the hospital. But he didn’t understand why. “Because you got very sick. The COVID never went away,” his mother would reply, adding that the condition of his lungs had only worsened. Even as the infection abated, Jose didn’t get better, much to his doctors’ confusion. Jose was an active teenager, playing tenor saxophone in his high school’s marching band — an activity that requires lung fitness. As a young child, he had mild asthma but never required an inhaler. Within the first few weeks in a hospital, Jose was intubated and placed on a ventilator that breathed for him. After his transfer to San Antonio, he was placed on ECMO support, which meant he breathed through an artificial lung. By early 2021, the COVID staff at Baylor St. Luke’s in Houston had begun developing its own practices for the 100 to 150 long-term patients on ECMO support.
