Linda Felty This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Lebanon Daily News - Valley Life

   www.ldnews.com/valleylife/ci_3 - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/11/2006   Last Visited: 1/11/2006

   Now 18 and a senior at Lebanon High School, Felty is possessed of a determined, take-charge attitude that his family expects to stand him in good stead throughout his life.
   
   It is an outlook that the spunky Felty says he owes to the heart transplant he received 11 years ago.
   
   In contrast to the constraints of his early childhood, the now 6-foot, 217-pound athlete, Eagle Scout and B student confidently says his future is "pretty much open and I can do whatever I set my mind to."
   
   The periodic checkups he must undergo and the antirejection drugs and other medications he will have to take for the rest of his life have not only ensured Felty's survival to date but have also emerged as an instrument fostering achievement.
   
   "I appreciate what I've gone through," he says during a recent interview in the compact living room of the family's unpretentious home on Skull Street in Lebanon. "It's made me appreciate life more; my views on things are stronger."
   
   And, he adds pointedly, "I remember going to the transplant hospital a lot and my parents wondering if I was going to come back."
   
   From the day of his birth on Jan. 6, 1988, her son faced difficulties, recalls Linda Felty. Born with a hole in his heart, Jarrod was what is known as a "blue baby" - his skin was light blue due to insufficient oxygen in his blood. Although surgery at 13 months largely corrected the condition, according to Darnold Felty, 55, Jarrod's father, doctors warned the couple that their son might require additional surgeries as he grew older.
   
   In the summer of 1994, when he was 6, Jarrod became ill while at a neighborhood playground. Although his doctor diagnosed an allergy, a cardiologist subsequently found that the child's heart was enlarged and pressing on his liver and lungs, according to Darnold Felty. After three days of tests at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, it was determined that he needed a heart transplant.
   ...
   "He was in and out of the hospital for the first couple years," recalls 50-year-old Linda Felty, a calm, low-key woman who works as a housekeeper at The Good Samaritan Hospital, adding that at the time her young son battled both rejection of his new heart and a virus.
   
   "There were times we thought we would lose him," she adds evenly, noting that medication, among other treatments, ultimately turned the tide and Jarrod was able to return to school at age 7.
   
   Today, the thoughtful, brown-haired teenager is active in school sports and clubs, attends St. Mark's United Church of Christ in Lebanon and holds a part-time job at Hershey's Chocolate World.
   
   Unlike other teenagers, however, he retains what of necessity will be lifelong ties to several hospitals. He makes biannual visits to Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and annual trips to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for tests and examinations. And every two years doctors in Pittsburgh take samples of his heart tissue for study.
   
   Felty, who gives no outward indication of the stressful events of his young life, doesn't allow his health regimen to affect his daily routine. In fact, he sees the periodic exams as a reassuring check of his heart, an organ that grows as he does.
   
   His parents, however, while stoic are cautious and realize their son's health could deteriorate at any time.
   
   "There's always (the possibility) of rejection," Linda Felty notes.
   ...
   Although they have no financial concerns, Linda Felty says of her son's condition, "It's hard.
   ...
   The transplant experience, Felty says, has taught him to value his accomplishments. Throughout his life he has been adamant that he not be pampered or favored although he says some high school coaches have given him preferential treatment.
   
   "I pretty much told them 'Don't do it,' " he recalls.