Moore Student Gets Breakthrough Heart Procedure

Eight days after receiving a new heart valve, a Moore baseball player was back on the field. He is one of six in the state to receive this new, minimally invasive procedure.

This procedure was recently approved by the FDA and is only performed at OU Medical Center. The breakthrough invasive procedure allowed the 13-year-old to be back playing ball a week later.

Samuel Palmer's love for baseball started when he was 6.

He tried out several other sports but it was baseball that filled his heart with passion

Rarely did his teammates and other players know that it was his heart was holding him back 

“Before the surgery like when I hit the ball and run (sic) to second base, I would be like tired and not really fast, but now I can run to second base and be ready to go to the third,” Samuel said.

Samuel was born with a small hole in his heart that prevented his pulmonary valve from opening.

By the age of 5, doctors already performed two open heart surgeries on Samuel.

“Some people talk about you know he's sick, well no he wasn't sick he was broken,” his father Jason Palmer said.

Samuel outgrew both valves leading doctors at OU Medical to believe he may be a candidate for a breakthrough heart procedure.

It was an alternative to open heart surgery. Doctors would use a catheter to deliver a Melody valve to Samuel's heart while it's still beating.

“We were able to go in with a catheter through his groin in the vein in his leg and track it up through his heart and across the valve and place this new stint in,” said Dr. Charles Sperrazza, cardiologist with the Children's Heart Center.

“Just a few days, he's back to normal. He had surgery on Thursday. He was back to school Monday and ready to play baseball the next Thursday,” Jason Palmer said.

Samuel is one of a half dozen patients who've received this surgery. The valve is expected to last for the next 10 to 12 years.