Doctors Tell This 5-Year-Old They Found Him A New Heart, And His Reaction Is Priceless

Before Ari Schultz was born, an ultrasound taken during his mother’s 18th week of pregnancy revealed that the unborn child suffered from two heart ailments (critical aortic stenosis and evolving hypoplastic left heart syndrome). Prior to his birth, he made history as the first unborn child to undergo two successful heart surgeries.

Now Ari is a five-year-old boy. Still suffering from his cardiac conditions, he spent 200 days on the formal waiting list before learning that he had been blessed with a new heart.

Here’s his reaction to the life-changing and overdue news:

The overwhelmed child asks incredulously, “They found one?” And his next response is the same one we’d all have: “When am I gonna get it?”

Well, Ari got it on the night of Friday, March 3, and it started beating in his chest at 11:32 p.m., according to his father’s blog.

In the most recent post (filled with interesting information about Ari’s road to recovery and future) dated March 8, his father shares:

As of now, he’s stable in the cardiac intensive care unit. He is deeply sedated and has a breathing tube in. He looks like he’s resting comfortably. Beyond that, he’s still in the weeds and has a lot of mostly anticipated challenges to overcome so there’s not much of a medical update.

Assuming that the transplant proves to be successful, it will be 30–90 days before Ari finds his way home. Fortunately, that’s plenty of time to catch a Red Sox game as his dad promised him in the video.