Oklahoma Children’s Hospital Performs First Child Heart Transplant In 30 years

Oklahoma’s pediatric heart transplant program has been dormant since the 1990s, but that changed last Sunday. Oklahoma Children’s Hospital has spent a decade building its child heart surgery wing so it can handle any procedure.

A heart beats to a consistent rhythm. Consistency is how a life in medicine is measured. Oklahoma Children’s Hospital chief of child heart surgery, Dr. Harold Burkhart has built a team. Burkhart helped build a pediatric cardiology department capable of performing the most complex surgeries.

“The only program for the state,” Burkhart said. “We developed an incredible team.”

Every year, the hospital performs more than 500 surgeries with an open-heart surgery survival rate of 98%. Oklahoma’s pediatric heart transplant program performed transplants three decades ago but paused its operations.

“The outcomes were not as good as they are right now,” Burkhart said. “A lot of kids were being sent out of state every year.”

Burkhart’s team was approved to change that this year.

“We did our first heart transplant,” Burkhart said.

Last December, ten-month-old Parker Helmerich was born with critical pulmonary stenosis.

“Who has been in the hospital since birth,” Burkhart said. “His heart wasn’t strong enough to support his circulation.”

Burkhart and 20 other OU Health medical professionals went to work and gave Parker a new life.

“And we got a heart transplant offer this past Sunday,” Burkhart said. “His new heart fits him perfectly.”

Burkhart said a career in medicine requires discipline and patience, but a successful vision comes from the heart.

“Everybody really performed at the highest level,” Burkhart said. “I’m very happy for the family and Parker.”

Burkhart said Parker will continue to come in for checkups and visits, but he expects Parker to have a good life ahead of him. Each year, approximately 450 pediatric heart transplants are performed in the United States.