NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - It’s something most parents do when they welcome a new baby into the world: take videos and pictures inside the hospital. Patience Clouse was no different. She captured the first moments of Mark Junior’s life complete with his first hiccups and their first hellos.
“Hi buddy,” Patience said to Mark Junior in one of those early videos. “He came out and he cried. I was joyful that he made it here.”
That’s because as quickly as a new life begins, the universe reminds you it can end just as fast.
“His left side of his heart did not grow properly,” Patience said, adding time was ticking for Mark Junior. “He made it to about Christmas and he started deteriorating.”
For nine months, Mark Junior lived in limbo between life and death at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital waiting for one thing.
“Organ donation. They said that was his only chance,” Patience recalled.
Mark Junior needed a new heart. His journey to find one took him from his home in Harrogate, Tennessee to Corbin, Kentucky.
Denis Bargo doesn’t just walk with grief; she carries it with her everywhere she goes. In the car or the buggy at a grocery store, Denise carries a little brown box.
“This is my baby Lena in her little urn,” Denise said.
“When did you know something was wrong with Lena?” WSMV 4 News Anchor Amanda Hara asked Denise.
“Lena started throwing up and had a fever,” Denise said. “She went limp in my arms, and I gave her CPR. I gave her breath all the way to Corbin Hospital. I never stopped breathing for my baby.”
A shunt that was supposed to be flushing spinal fluid off Lena’s brain stopped working. Just months before her second birthday, Lena was declared brain dead.
Denise’s son, Cody Taylor, suggested the idea of organ donation and Denise agreed. Video captured a rare and deeply personal moment that came next at Kentucky Children’s Hospital in Lexington. An honor walk is held when a patient prepares to donate their organs. Hospital staff lined the hallways to honor Lena as she was wheeled into the operating room. Denise laid in the bed and held her the entire way.
Word spread quickly to Patience Clouse at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
“When did you get the news?” Hara asked Patience.
“Two of the transplant team doctors came in and said, ‘There’s a heart available,” Patience said. “I was speechless.”
On the same day that Lena was taken into the operating room, nurses paraded Mark Junior down a hospital hallway lined with nurses, doctors and staff.
“We’ve all been waiting for this moment forever. We decided to give him a last parade before he went and got his new heart because it was his chance at a new life,” Patience said. “It was the perfect timing; I don’t know if he would have waited much longer.”
Eventually, Denise learned over Facebook that Lena’s heart went to Mark Junior. Months later, the two families met. Our cameras were rolling.
Denise embraced Mark Junior the moment she saw him.
“Hi precious baby can I hold you? Thank you so much,” she said. “God’s little miracle! Can I feel your little heart beating? God is so amazing!”
Lena didn’t just save Mark Junior. She saved her own mother, too.
“When Lena was in the hospital, I kept feeling like I was having a heart attack,” Denise explained.
As Lena was dying, doctors rushed Denise to another floor where bloodwork found cancer. Doctors say they caught it early.
“Lena saved your life?” Hara asked.
“Yes, she did,” Denise said. “Lena’s our little hero.”
Her organs also helped another baby and a grown adult.
In a way, Mark Junior is a hero, too. He’s now the keeper of Lena’s heart.
“Mark’s alive because of Lena, but Lena’s heart is beating because of Mark,” Denise said. “It’s a precious gift to know that my baby’s still alive.”
A Hero's HeartA hero's heart ❤ This is a story about a Kentucky toddler who saved the life of a Tennessee baby. We hope it inspires you to embrace the life-changing power we all carry inside us. Our hearts are with both mothers in this story, Denise Taylor Bargo and Patience Elizabeth Clouse. Your bravery and grace is awe-inspiring. Full story: https://tinyurl.com/j5yty2yc Mark's Mission ❤️🩹 Cincinnati Children's UK Kentucky Children's Hospital WSMV 4, Nashville #heart #OrganDonation
Posted by Amanda Hara on Friday, November 24, 2023
Denise Bargo and her husband Johnny Bargo are now hoping to spread awareness about Hydrocephalus and shunts. Shunts don’t last forever. In fact, the Hydrocephalus Association reports that 40% of shunts in children fail within the first two years of placement.
According to the Denise Bargo, doctors said it would have been difficult to determine Lena’s shunt malfunctioned. “The surgeon said unless you opened her brain up to look inside her, you would have never known that shunt malfunctioned,” Denise said.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital lists the following signs of a shunt malfunction:
Infants
Toddlers
School-Age Children
If your child shows any of these symptoms, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital recommends seeking medical attention immediately. They warn one or two warning signs may be present at a time, but sometimes not all.
Anyone 18 or older, and in some states people even younger, can sign up to be an organ donor. You can sign up online to register as an organ donor.
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