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BY MECHELE COOPER
Staff Writer 03/23/2008

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GOOD NEWS: Paitn Marie Verrill received a new heart Wednesday and is doing well, her family reported. “She cruised right through her procedures and already is starting to open her eyes and kick her feet,” her mother said. “Everyone’s very happy with her progress.”

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The 10-month-old baby girl received it Wednesday and thus far it's proved an excellent match.

But what a long way little Paitn has come.

Paitn's parents, Ashley Hathaway and James Verrill, took their daughter to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta on Jan. 28 with what they believed was a cold.

As her heart rate accelerated to more than 250, Paitn was airlifted to the Maine Medical Center in Portland. Paitn's heart was enlarging and she was having difficulty breathing, the parents said.

The child was stabilized Jan. 30 then taken to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at the Children's Hospital in Boston where she was diagnosed with respiratory-syncytial virus and Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Respiratory-syncytial virus is the most common cause of bronchitis and pneumonia among infants and children younger than 1, according to the National Center for Infectious Diseases.

Hathaway works for Maine Revenue Services. Verrill is employed by Newman Concrete Services in Hallowell.

As of Friday, "She's doing great!" Hathaway said of Paitn. "She cruised right through her procedures and already is starting to open her eyes and kick her feet. Everyone's very happy with her progress."

Hathaway said information on the donor is kept confidential.

Up until the transplant, Paitn's heart was assisted by a Berlin Heart, a mechanical device specially sized for children and designed to aid the heart until a donor heart becomes available.

The child's grandmother, Teresa Hathaway of Gardiner, said Paitn's condition improved after the assistive device was implanted Feb. 23.

"We want to say thank you to the family who has given us the ability to one day bring our baby girl home," Hathaway said. "They have also shown true meaning of strength and love. Paitn's heart will always belong to this family, and we will be forever grateful to them."

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, Ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com

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