CONWAY, SC (WMBF) – A 6-year-old girl is making medical history and paving the way for other children with serious heart issues.
Elaine Smith is the first person in South Carolina to receive a successful partial heart transplant, a procedure only a handful of hospitals in the country offer.
Smith has always been a fighter. She was born with a rare heart defect called truncus arteriosus and at just six days old, she received lifesaving open heart surgery at MUSC Shawn Jenkins’ Children’s Hospital.
Pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Minoo Karana said during that operation, doctors used artificial tubes and valves, meaning multiple future operations would be likely…