When Peyton Boling, 2, awoke Sunday,
he asked for pizza.
His mother, Melody Boling gleefully
prepared handmade pizzas and fed
him throughout Sunday.
"It's been a long time since he's
eaten like this," Boling said,
in her family's
temporary apartment in Nashville,
within a few miles of Vanderbilt
Medical Center.
On July 9, Peyton had a heart
transplant. The child, named after
former
University of Tennessee quarterback
Peyton Manning, was released from
the hospital Friday.
For the next two months, Peyton
and his parents, who live in Mascot
in
East Knox County, will stay in
Nashville so they are close to
doctors who
need to monitor Peyton's progress.
In 1998, the child was diagnosed
with Kawasaki Syndrome, a rare
and
potentially fatal disease that
allows aneurysms and blood clots
to reduce
blood flow to the heart.
"He's wrestling around. He's his
wild and crazy self, my doll,"
Melody
Boling said of her only child.
"He had surgery eight days (ago)
and it
doesn't even seem like it's bothering
him. He's eating us out of house
and home.
But that brings a huge smile to
our faces. He never wanted to
eat before, but
now he eats like a man."
Brent Boling, Peyton's father,
said doctors said his son probably
set a
record for being able to leave
the hospital within seven days
after a heart
transplant.
Peyton's road to recovery includes
a daily cocktail of eight medications
taken four times a day. The child
must stay away from many people,
in a
very sterile environment.
"He is on heavy doses of anti-rejection
drugs which affect his immune
system so he could catch the slightest
germs," Melody Boling said. "The
doctors want him to be free of
any infection."
Helping the child during the 14-month
wait for a new heart became a
communal effort.
NASCAR stock car driver Rusty
Wallace donated use of his jet.
Manning, a second-year Indianapolis
Colts quarterback, visited Peyton
and gave him an autographed Colts
jersey.
Tennessee football coach Phillip
Fulmer has sent encouraging letters
and
items autographed by the Vols.
The Knoxville-based Huffaker Family
Foundation has established a fund
to help pay medical and living
expenses after the surgery. Ray
Huffaker of
Strawberry Plains is a business
associate of Wallace's.
"Rusty Wallace and Ray Huffaker
have spent thousands of dollars
to fly
us around," she said. "Rusty Wallace
doesn't know us, but he wanted
to help
us and that is unfathomable."
The family's faith in God and
prayers from many people helped
sustain her
family, said Melody Boling, a
special-education teacher at Carter
Middle
School.
"People have been incredibly supportive,"
she said. "Peyton has been
prayed for; that is the only way
Brent and I could sleep at night."
She hoped the widespread support
encouraged people to sign up to
become organ donors.
And she hoped peace befalls Peyton's
donor's family. The donor was
an
unidentified 22-month-old toddler
who died in Memphis.
"For 14 months we had been praying
for them as much as for Peyton
because we knew a family would
have to experience death," she
said.
Later she said, "We are so incredibly
grateful. I can't imagine at the
worst
possible time when my child is
dying someone asking us to give
more.
"That is an extremely selfless
act. They are strong and to say
we are
blessed doesn't even touch it.
They need prayers just as much
as Peyton does."
Since
this article was printed, Peyton
has had many ups and downs. He
and his family are still in Nashville
and Peyton is doing quite well.
There is however, still a risk
for rejection, but he's in good
hands and hopefully everything
will be just fine. He's definately
in our thoughts and prayers and
we wish you the best Peyton.
Rusty
also carried a "Get Well Peyton"
sticker on the roll bar of his
car on August 7, 1999 at the Brickyard
400.
