Heart transplant recipient comes home to neighborhood parade

PLAIN CITY, Weber County — A 10-year-old boy who received a heart transplant in September was welcomed home on Thursday with the help of his neighbors, who threw a parade in his honor.

By the time he was born, Brandon Barela was diagnosed with heart complications in the form of congenital heart defects. The baby boy with Down syndrome was later given the nickname "Chomp" by his family, who said he had a strong bite as a baby and throughout his toddler years, said Kourtney Barela, Chomp's mother.

When Chomp was only 3 months old, he had a repair done to his heart that lasted until February of this year, when he experienced active heart failure. In April, Chomp received a full valve replacement.

By July, Barela said her family noticed Chomp losing more and more energy, which led to a hospital visit on July 25 ending with news that his heart was failing even more so than before.

"We took him in kind of anticipating that, you know, maybe he needed some medication changes and he could just do some therapy in the hospital to repair his heart," Barela said.

Chomp was admitted on the same day as that hospital visit. Days later on a Tuesday, Chomp was sent to the cardiac intensive care unit to start stronger medication, which failed to work the way doctors hoped. By Friday, Barela said her son was struggling to breathe, and he was intubated.

"That following day, Saturday, they ended up performing what they call the life-saving surgery because his heart was failing so bad that this body was just shutting down," Barela said.

Doctors treated Chomp by putting in a left ventricular assist device to pump his heart for him. By this point, Barela said doctors knew Chomp would need a heart transplant.

"It was exhausting, physically, mentally, emotionally," Barela said. "I don't even know how to describe that feeling. I think when you watch your child in the hospital and you see them in that state, in the state he was in, it's very traumatizing."

Barela said she experienced a lot of feelings once Chomp was on the list for a heart transplant.

"It was just, you know, sitting and waiting and praying that we get a heart, but also feeling for the donor family who lost their loved one in order for my son to keep living," Barela shared. "So it's just a lot of emotion."

With Chomp in the hospital over his birthday on Aug. 26, Barela said their family still wanted to celebrate in some way. On Aug. 30, his family threw him a small birthday party on one of the balconies at Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital. On that day, Chomp's story changed.

"Our family had just left and the doctor came in and told us that they had accepted a heart, and it was like the perfect match for him," Barela said. "So we were able to call our family back before they all left the hospital, and everybody got to come back and kind of be part of the experience finding out that we received a heart."

After receiving a heart transplant on Sept. 1, Chomp wouldn't be allowed to be in contact with many people for about six months to a year. Because of this, Barela texted a few family members and asked them to sit on the side of the road as Chomp came home.

With the thought in mind that more people may want to be part of the celebration, Barela's family motivated her to post the welcome home information on social media.

A parade of people from all over showed up to escort Chomp and the Barela home, including members of the Pleasant View Police Department, Plain City Fire Department and Weber Fire District.

"What started out as something very small turned into something huge, and there were so many people there," Barela said. "It was so overwhelming to feel how much love there was for my son."

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