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15-year-old gets heart, surgery successful

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Aug 21, 2013

Anthony Stokes, the 15-year-old DeKalb resident whose family feared he would die if he didn’t get a new heart, is in recovery today after getting a new heart.

Mark Bell, a spokesman for the family, confirmed today that Stokes was in surgery for five hours Tuesday evening.

Just last week, Stokes was in the middle of a national debate after the hospital rejected him as a candidate for a transplant because he had a “history of noncompliance.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported on the case on Aug. 12, and the hospital reversed course on Aug. 13, not only placing Stokes on the list to get a transplant, but also making his case a priority.

Stokes suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, in which the heart’s main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, fails to pump enough blood.

About the Author

Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.

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