Little boy waiting for heart transplant warms others’ hearts as he lights Angel Tree

A little boy waiting for a heart transplant warmed onlookers’ hearts as he helped launch the Medical University of South Carolina’s Angel Tree effort. Luke Fossell, 3, pushed the pump to light the tree that stands just outside the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.

It was the latest turn on a journey that began not long after the Lexington boy’s birth. “When he was born, he was born with a healthy heart, and when he was 10 days old, he got diagnosed with the enterovirus. Instead of his body attacking the virus, it attacked his heart and put him into heart failure,” said his mother, Karoline Fossell.

“So we got admitted to MUSC when he was 10 days old. He got put on life support, and we thankfully were able to get out of that situation. He went home on an IV medication and with a PICC line for four months.” A PICC line is a catheter used when a patient needs intravenous medication for an extended period of time.

“Then, after that, he was able to wean off of that and onto just oral medication. And we were able to medically manage it at home for the last two years. And then in March, he took a decline again and got put back on milrinone,” a medication for life-threatening heart failure.

 

“He has a central line again, and then specifically got admitted in June just for his external LVAD,” a left ventricular assist device, “which he'll stay on until transplant.”

Luke and his family have been through so much already, but they’re still glad to do something to help other families. His moment in the spotlight as the tree lighter helped bring attention to an essential part of the holidays for some families: the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Program.

“This year, there are over 2,000 children in need here in our community that have applied for assistance through the Salvation Army,” said Melissa Kubu, program coordinator of Volunteer Services for the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.

“MUSC is honored to adopt almost half of those angels. This has been a wonderful community partnership over the past 19 years, and we will be here as long as there is a need.” 

Each angel is represented by a tag with some basic information on it, including the child’s holiday wishes, which will hang in a key place on the MUSC campus. Employees and visitors take the tags, buy what they can and return the gifts and tag. It’s an annual event at MUSC, but Kubu said this year will look a little different than it did during the past two years. “We are excited to bring back our MUSC Angel Tree Parade. After a pandemic break, we are ready to celebrate the culmination of these adopted angels in a joyous way. The parade will be Friday, Dec. 2, starting at noon on Ehrhardt Street. It will follow around the downtown campus and end in the Medical District Greenway.”

 

People can bring their gifts that day to the Greenway or earlier that week to the lobbies of University Hospital, Ashley River Tower or the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.

David Zaas, M.D., chief executive officer for the MUSC Health-Charleston Division and chief clinical officer for MUSC Health, welcomed the Angel Tree launch. “I think in some ways, after the last few years, we’re really hungry to be together and get to celebrate here in the holidays after all of the challenges we've been through.”

Luke and his family know all about challenges. But they also know something else heading into the holidays. “He has Status 1A,” his mother said. That means he’s at the highest priority on the heart transplant list, waiting for the most important gift of his young life.