Naples – It's a race against time, with hours ticking by and hopes dwindling. At Naples' Monaldi Hospital, a two-year-and-three-month-old boy is urgently awaiting another heart transplant after the first procedure proved unsuccessful. His mother, Patrizia, recounts the anguish of these hours, having lived suspended between waiting and the fear of failure for days.
"Hopes are getting less and less"
"Today I feel terrible. The more hours of waiting go by, the worse I feel than before," the woman says. "The doctors explained to me that as the days go by, hope diminishes. And I can see it in my son's face, too."
The little boy has been hospitalized at Monaldi Hospital for about fifty days, in critical condition, after the failure of his first transplant. According to the doctors, this period cannot be extended any further.
The phone call from the director of Monaldi
Today, the mother was contacted by the hospital's general director, Anna Iervolino. "She called to tell me she's close to me and is doing everything she can for the child," Patrizia reports. "She even granted me special permission to come and visit my son at all times."
A gesture that only partially alleviates the burden of a wait that remains dramatic.
"We need a new heart, now."
The child's condition doesn't allow for any further delays. "We need to find a new heart as soon as possible: within minutes, within hours," the mother emphasizes. "In a few days, it could be too late to save him. We can't do anything but wait, but my son doesn't have much time."
Anger after news of first transplant
Regarding the failure of the first operation, which also emerged through press articles, the woman admits to feeling angry. "There are no words to describe what happened. I learned about it from the newspapers," she explains. "The doctors only told me that the heart wasn't working and that they hoped to make it work with new therapies while waiting for another organ."
An anger that today takes a back seat to the absolute urgency. "Now there's only one priority: finding a new heart for my son," he concludes.
Changes and revisions to this article
- Article updated on 11/02/2026 at 14:21 PM - Title typo corrected
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Comments (1)
The situation is truly dramatic and sad. I don't understand why it's taking so long to find a new heart. Every day that passes is a day lost for that child. I hope things improve soon.