Elizabeth Craze is one of the youngest known recipients of a

heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...

. She received a new heart in 1984 at the age of 2 years, 10 months. The operation was performed at

Stanford Hospital Stanford University Medical Center is a teaching hospital which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. It serves as a private hospital for the Stanford University School of Medicine. In 2022–23, it was ranked by the U ...

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University, after which it was named. The CDP's population was 21,150 at the United States Census, ...

by the team of

Norman Shumway Norman Edward Shumway (February 9, 1923 – February 10, 2006) was a pioneer of heart surgery at Stanford University. He was the 67th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and the first to perform an adult human to huma ...

, one of the early pioneers of heart transplant surgery. Although considered almost conventional today, in the early 1980s heart transplants (in children especially) were extremely rare.

Surgery

At the time of Craze's procedure, an ethics committee was formed at Stanford to review the advantages and disadvantages of possible surgery for her. It was not known at the time if a donated heart would "continue to grow along with her body." Her family pleaded for the surgery as she was gravely ill and weighed only 23 pounds. A decision to proceed was reached by the committee and the

donor A donor in general is a person, organization or government which donates something voluntarily. The term is usually used to represent a form of pure altruism, but is sometimes used when the payment for a service is recognized by all parties as re ...

was a young girl from Utah who had been the victim of a car crash. Craze had three siblings who died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

in infancy, and she was diagnosed at only 4 months old. Her surviving sibling, older brother Andrew, had a heart transplant at the age of 16. His operation preceded hers by one year, and Andrew was instrumental in pleading her case before the ethics committee. Craze was at the time of the operation the youngest patient to have received a heart transplant. She has had to rely on various medications throughout her life, some with severe

side effect In medicine, a side effect is an effect of the use of a medicinal drug or other treatment, usually adverse but sometimes beneficial, that is unintended. Herbal and traditional medicines also have side effects. A drug or procedure usually use ...

s, including needing a kidney transplant surgery at the age of 15. Craze has been able to lead a normal life including activities such as playing junior high school volleyball, and attending

Whittier College Whittier College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic-serving institution, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of spring 2024, had 815 ...

. She was an active member of the Ionian Society, a local

sorority In North America, fraternities and sororities ( and ) are social clubs at colleges and universities. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Greek life or Greek-letter organizations, as well as collegiate fraternities or collegiate sorori ...

, and went on to graduate in 2004. In 2009, Craze worked in IT for

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Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, and celebrated the 25th anniversary of her surgery with a trip to

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

and a short cruise to

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. In 1996, 90 minutes old Cheyenne Pyle became the youngest known heart transplant recipient, and Craze became the second youngest on record.

Life after surgery

Craze was featured in the Spring/Summer 2012 Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation newsletter. In October 2014 Craze celebrated the 30th anniversary of her surgery by raising money and awareness for Donate Life California, and completing the Rock’n’Roll Half-Marathon in San Jose. As of 2014, Craze was the only heart transplant recipient in the United States to survive 30 years with the same donor heart she received as a toddler.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craze, Elizabeth Heart transplant recipients Whittier College alumni Living people 1982 births