After a year in the hospital, 6-year-old gets a heart and goes home
After 372 days in a hospital, 6-year-old Dylan Nettles has gone home.
The little boy was born with complex congenital heart disease. He underwent his first open heart surgery as a 1-year-old.
In January 2019, he was admitted to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Heart Center for heart failure. He was the evaluated and listed for a heart transplant by the Heart Center’s Advanced Cardiac Therapies team.
And that's when the long wait began.
“It was extremely hard to watch Dyl go through his wait for transplant, because he didn’t feel sick for most of his stay so he didn’t always really realized why he had to stay," his dad, Kenneth Nettles, told "Good Morning America." "Dyl maintained a positive upbeat attitude throughout his stay so seeing that in him made it a lot easier for us to go through this journey with him.”
The little boy was a staff favorite, the hospital told "GMA."
During the year he was in the hospital, Dylan interviewed dozens of celebrity guests in the hospital's Seacrest Studios, graduated from kindergarten in the hospital school program, made dozens of friends and even "married" one of his favorite nurses.
On Jan. 9, 2020 after 358 days of being hospitalized, Dylan underwent a successful heart transplant. He was discharged and sent home on Jan. 23.
“The first thing he did when he got home was walk around to see what new stuff he could find in the house, then went up to check out his room that we redecorated for him," his dad said. “It’s amazing to have him home! His room has been the hangout spot for the last week, and we all just sit around him while he does whatever he wants."
