The road to recovery: SHS senior who had heart transplant making progress, looking forward to Christmas.
- Sara Vanden Berge
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Jayce Gazaway is fighting hard to get his life back.
The 17-year-old Stephenville High School senior is recovering from having a heart transplant at Children’s Medical Center Dallas in October.
Now, nearly two months later, Jayce continues to recover with his family right by his side every step of the way.
“Jayce is doing fantastic,” his mother Haley Esslinger told Beneath the Surface News.
“He has started physical and occupational therapy and had his first heart biopsy last week.
“The biopsy showed signs of rejection microscopically, but his labs look better than they have since this process started in August 2024. His medical team is running more tests to understand the microscopic rejection and figure out how to treat the rejection properly.
“It has been two steps forward, one step back since the transplant.”
Jayce is allowed to leave Dallas for 48 hours at a time, and his medical team hopes he can transition back home at the end of January or early February.
“My husband and I have been using the 48 hours to give Jayce time at home and swap for the week,” Haley said.
“As for Christmas, we are going back and forth on whether or not we need to celebrate in Dallas or use our 48 hours to celebrate at home.
“Navigating caring for our family of six has been tough and we are all ready to be under one roof again.”
This past year has been full of trials, heartache and a journey the family never saw coming, but today, there’s hope.
“I can't wait to see the great things that Jayce will accomplish now that he has a chance to dream big again.”
