By: Mikala Compton
After battling complications, Austin LBJ student Andres Vega was discharged after a heart transplant and received an honorary graduation from Dell Children's Medical Center on Friday morning. Vega, who serves as a student football trainer, was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the heart is underdeveloped. His health began to fail last year, and he learned that the only solution was a heart transplant. A donor gave him just that on March 1. Complications arose after surgery, and Vega was placed on life support. After 3 months, Vega has recovered and was cleared for discharge. Family, friends, teammates and his care team lined the hallway at Dell Children's to surprise Vega with an honorary graduation walk. The high school senior said he's excited to start his life, free of pain, and walk at LBJ's official graduation in June.
