Thousands of prayers are thanking God after a seven-week-old baby who underwent a heart transplant continues to show signs of improvement.
According to CBN News, Mark E. Joubert posted updates about his son, Augustus Elliott Joubert, better known on social media as Gus, in the past week to chronicle the baby’s journey through surgery.
“My son is currently in surgery. He went in around 1 pm. The old heart is out, and a new heart is going in. We only spent 11 days on a transplant list. Thank God for the family that chose to donate. It’s been a long day. We probably won’t see him until 8 pm,” Joubert wrote on X on Jan.16.
My son is currently in surgery. He went in around 1 pm. Old heart is out, new heart is going in. We only spent 11 days on a transplant list. Thank God for the family that chose to donate. It’s been a long day. We probably won’t see him until 8 pm.
The Lord is our refuge. pic.twitter.com/V5OHYAfQpE
— Mark E. Joubert (@mark_joubert) January 16, 2024
“The Lord is our refuge.”
Despite a successful heart transplant, however, Joubert posted an update asking for prayers because Gus’ heart had trouble beating.
“We’ve had bad news. After a successful transplant, our son’s donor heart has not started beating. He will transition to ECMO (heart bypass machine) for a couple of days in hopes that it begins to beat. Otherwise, he will pass away. Please pray for us all. May the Lord be glorified.” Joubert wrote.
We’ve had bad news. After a successful transplant, our son’s donor heart has not started beating. He will transition to ECMO (heart bypass machine) for a couple days in hopes that it begins to beat. Otherwise, he will pass away. Please pray for us all. May the Lord be glorified. pic.twitter.com/MGMyTY2oiQ
— Mark E. Joubert (@mark_joubert) January 17, 2024
Two days later, he wrote that his son’s heart started beating again and thanked those who’ve kept him in prayer.
“It is weak & incomplete, but it is a beat! It sustained and grew all day today. Please keep praying for Gus!” he wrote on Jan. 18.
In the most recent update, Jourbert noted that Gus experienced complications after he was taken off of EMCO, but it was because his heart was “regaining momentum.” However, the baby was put back on EMCO because his blood pressure “continued to fall precipitously.”
“For some uncertain reason, he stabilized last night. We enjoyed a few hours of relief, but by 3 am this morning, his situation was deteriorating again,” he tweeted Wednesday morning. “This time, it brought him to the edge of death, and we were forced to put him back on ECMO. Thankfully, our team acted quickly, and he was brought back on ECMO successfully. He is now mostly stable, though they are trying to find a good balance with his fluids. What caused this stubborn blood pressure issue remains uncertain.”
He also noted that the emergency had to deal with a clot that formed during the ECMO clamp trial.
“While not entering Gus in its entirety, it may have sent “micro-clots” into his body. Based on x-rays, it looks like his right lung took the brunt of it. Our team believes the damage his right lung has sustained led to an inflammatory response that has affected how his vascular system retains fluids and, therefore, how his body maintains good pressure. The only option he had this morning was to go back on ECMO in hopes that a few more days would offer him the stability his lungs needed to heal. They will do treatments to remove inflammatory markers from his blood in the meantime.”
Additionally, Joubert pointed out that Gus’ other organs, such as livers, kidneys, and brain, have “not sustained significant damage.”
“So here’s where we sit: take several days more on ECMO to allow the lung to recover and reduce inflammation while sustaining good pressures, monitoring him neurologically, and protecting his other organs,” he added. “Please pray with us for God to give our doctors wisdom. Pray that Gus’ lung would recover; that this time on ECMO would be free from complications and provide the time he needs to come free and soar finally.”
Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@mark_joubert/
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
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