12-year-old heart transplant patient returns to Japan from U.S.

NARITA, Japan — A 12-year-old boy who received a heart transplant in the United States in July has returned home to Japan and is looking forward to seeing his friends again.

Hiroki Ando, a sixth-grade primary school student from Ugomachi, Akita Prefecture, needed the operation at a New York
hospital because he suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, which
inflames and impairs the heart. “I’m back and I’m fine,” a slightly
nervous-looking Ando said at a press conference Friday at Narita Airport. “I want to play with my friends.”

Ando’s father, Ryuki, thanked the many people who had supported his family and donated more than 180 million yen
to pay for the operation. “We want to live with Hiroki, and we won’t
forget the organ donor and the donor’s family,” said Ryuki, 50.

Ando is scheduled to stay in a hospital in Tokyo for tests for a few days.

According to Ando’s support group, funds left over
from donations collected in a fund-raising drive will be used to help
other people with heart ailments.

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(c) 2010, The Yomiuri Shimbun.

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