Home with a New Heart: Five-year-old returns home after heart transplant

SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah (ABC4) — A five-year-old girl from Saratoga Springs has been waiting for more than two years for a heart transplant, and today she finally came home with a brand-new heart.

Sienna Barton was met with a crowd of neighbors when she got home from the hospital after receiving a heart transplant.

“This was an awesome surprise. Our neighbors hinted at us like Hey, we need you to have your case and do this and decorate it,” Fano Barton, Sienna’s father, said.

​“We knew we had a big village of support, but I didn’t expect it to be so many people, so many people have been behind us helping our family,” Francesca Barton, Sienna’s mother, added.

It’s been 975 days, and Sienna Barton has finally made it home after going into heart failure in January of 2023.

“She’s a warrior, she wants to have fun and is determined to make fun out of anything she can make a good time out of everything,” Barton said.

Sienna Barton returns home after receiving a heart transplant. Courtesy: McKenzie Diaz//ABC4

Sienna’s journey is long and complex.

“Sienna was born with this thing called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, essentially half of a heart, so we chose to save her heart with a three-step surgery: One at six days old, one at six months old and the next one was to be at around three,” Francesca Barton said, “But she went into heart failure in January of 2023 it got so bad she had to get hooked up to a VAG.”

That kept her alive for more than two years while waiting for a donor.

“Initially they told us it would be 8-10 months for a heart transplant but 28 months later we were still waiting. So, we moved to Texas Children’s, where we knew there were more hearts available. We flew there May 28 and she got her heart transplant June 25. And then we were required to stay 90-100 days in Texas post-transplant,” Francesca added.

Her parents say Sienna is a trooper. They also highlighted the significant impact this has on their lives.

“We only got to this moment because of a donor. A family chose in their hardest moment to pay it forward,” Francesca said, “This isn’t something families think about ahead of time and it’s usually an unexpected situation, so we urge you to talk about it with your families and kids what that would look like if it ever happened to them.”

Sienna’s mom says Sienna can’t go to school for six months, so her parents will homeschool her for preschool. Her family also says they have to go back to Texas every six weeks for appointments.