Anthony Stokes, a 15-year-old boy once told by doctors that his next few months are numbered, has finally received a new heart.
Stokes who was initially denied access to a life-saving heart transplant list two weeks ago has undergone the crucial surgery at an Atlanta hospital at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to the ABC News. He is now resting and in recovery.
"I would like to thank everyone involved, and that we will update everyone throughout the day," said Melencia Hamilton, Anthony's mother.
Mother of Stokes Melencia Hamilton said her son was put on a list because he had been too healthy. The letter from the hospital addressed Stokes as a candidate "of having a history of non-compliance," meaning there was little proof he would take medicine or follow orders from a doctor.
Just a month earlier, Stokes was diagnosed with having an enlarged heart after suffering abnormal chest pain. Doctors gave him just six months to live unless he underwent a transplant.
In a letter sent to the family dated Aug. 7, Stokes was accused by the hospital of having a "history of non-compliance," which made him an ineligible contestant.
"I know he will comply with all the rules," said Hamilton, before she learned that doctors had reversed their decision and would put Anthony on the transplant list. "He will take his medicine because he knows that is how he has to live."
Hamilton said she believed doctors made their decision to deny Anthony because he had low grades and had been in trouble with the law.
"He was just fighting," Hamilton said. "Trying to take up, just trying to take up for his brother because somebody was bullying his brother."
