World's first infant heart transplant recipient celebrates 40th birthday, reunion with care team

LOMA LINDA, Calif., Nov. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Eddie "Baby Moses" Anguiano, the world's first and longest-living infant-to-infant heart transplant recipient, returned to Loma Linda University Health to celebrate his 40th birthday and reunite with the care team that made medical history.

LINK TO B-ROLL, PHOTOS, INTERVIEW WITH MARIA AND EDDIE
LINK TO HISTORICAL PHOTOS

The 40th-anniversary celebration welcomed members of Loma Linda University International Heart Institute, former transplant patients, families, and hospital staff on Tuesday, November 4.

Each pediatric heart transplant patient in attendance proudly wore a number on their name tag, representing their place in the legacy that began with Baby Moses.

The event featured a panel discussion with members of Anguiano's original care team and current physicians, reflecting on the past and exploring the future of heart surgery and transplantation.

The celebration concluded with a surprise birthday cake for Anguiano, who will officially turn 40 on November 16.

Today, Anguiano lives in Henderson, Nevada with his mother and grandmother and continues to thrive with the same transplanted heart that saved him as a newborn.

He loves to watch movies and listen to music of every kind.

"He hears a song once and already knows all the words," says Anguiano's mother, Maria Aguirre. "He's everyone's friend, the neighbors, the cashiers, the people at the casino, they all know Eddie," Aguirre said.

Anguiano was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe congenital defect that left his heart too weak to function. Doctors told his parents there was nothing more they could do.

Then, at just four days old, a call changed everything. Leonard Bailey, MD, the world-renowned pediatric heart surgeon who made global headlines a year earlier for transplanting a baboon heart into Baby Fae, had a new opportunity, a human heart that was a perfect match for Anguiano.

On November 20, 1985, Bailey performed the first successful infant-to-infant heart transplant on Anguiano, who became known as Baby Moses, at Loma Linda University Medical Center. The surgery gave him a second chance at life and revolutionized pediatric heart care worldwide.

Bailey, who passed away in 2019, paved the way for modern infant heart transplantation and inspired hospitals around the globe to adopt similar lifesaving procedures. Since Anguiano's historic surgery, 570 pediatric heart transplants have been performed at Loma Linda University Health.

Anees Razzouk, MD, a pediatric congenital and cardiac surgeon at LLUH, who trained under Bailey and worked alongside him for 30 years, reflected on the ongoing legacy. "The surgery may last only hours, but the impact lasts a lifetime. Our mission is to make sure that lifetime is long and healthy," Razzouk said.

Antoine Sakr, MD, adult heart transplant cardiologist, discussed advancements in adult cardiac transplants. He stated the adult program would not have been possible without the first pediatric heart transplants. The program continues to grow and utilizes innovative technologies that support advanced cardiac care.

Natalie Shwaish, MD, pediatric heart transplant cardiologist, shared that the hospital recently became the first center on the West Coast to perform partial heart transplants, a groundbreaking procedure that uses living heart tissue from donors who are unable to give a full heart. This new therapy offers children with valve defects a replacement that can grow naturally with the patient and potentially last a lifetime, representing a major step forward in transplant medicine.

PHOTO CAPTION: Eddie Anguiano, alongside his mother Maria, was presented with a surprise birthday cake at a reunion event celebrating 40 years of heart transplant survival and his 40th birthday in Loma Linda, CA on Tuesday, November 4.

About Loma Linda University Health (LLUH)
Loma Linda University Health includes Loma Linda University's eight professional schools, Loma Linda University Medical Center's six hospitals — including The Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus, which opened in August 2021, housing the new adult hospital and Children's Hospital expansion — and more than 1,000 faculty physicians located in the Inland Empire of Southern California. Established in 1905, Loma Linda University Health is a global leader in education, research and clinical care. It offers over 100 academic programs and provides quality health care to over 40,000 inpatients and 1.5 million outpatients each year. A Seventh-day Adventist organization, Loma Linda University Health is a faith-based health system with a mission "to continue the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ."

SOURCE Loma Linda University Health