A Story of Hope and Accomplishment: How One Utah Family’s Decision During Grief Changed the Life of Young Doctor Who Will Give Back to Children in Need

This week, Dr. Jon Hochstein will begin his medical residency after graduating from Harvard Medical School. This achievement was made possible because of one family’s decision at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital 23 years ago to donate the gift of life, and a team of experts who saved his life.

Jon was four years old when he was treated for a heart condition in the intensive care unit at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital. His condition was so dire, he was placed on life support due to his failing heart, and the only option for life was to transplant a new one.

“Things were getting so bad we were having to prepare ourselves that we might lose Jon,” said Jon’s father, David Hochstein. “We knew that if Jon got a heart it would mean another family would lose a loved one, and it was a tough position to be in.”

Just down the hall from Jon’s room, Elisabeth was being told her eight-year-old son, Christopher Brazell, would sadly not survive after being hit by a truck in front of his school in Wendover, Utah. Initially, she chose not to donate his organs.

Later that day, Elisabeth was walking down the ICU hallway and glanced into a room.

There, she saw two small feet poking out of a blanket, and a child hooked to several machines. She asked a nurse what was wrong with the boy, and learned he was waiting for a donor heart.

That patient was Jon Hochstein. 

Rose Linsler, NP, (left) was the bedside nurse at Primary Children's Hospital when  Dr. John Hochstein (right) was a patient in 1999.

“In the moment you’re just overwhelmed by the loss of your brother and son, but once my mom saw Jon, she thought if Christopher’s death could help someone else, we should do it,” said Christopher’s older sister, April Hough.

Christopher’s family decided to donate his heart to Jon, and to donate his liver and kidneys to other kids in need of a transplant.

Christopher had type O negative blood – the universal blood type – which would give a recipient a better chance for successful transplantation. But doctors still worried about the age and size difference of donor and recipient, and that Christopher’s heart may be too big to fit.

“Unlike adults, kids normally have to get an organ from someone who’s about the same age and size they are,” said Rose Linsler, NP, who was Jon’s bedside nurse at Primary Children’s Hospital and now is an Intermountain Life Flight nurse. “After watching everything Jon had been through, we just needed this one last thing to work.”

Due to his deteriorating condition, Jon’s heart had been swelling in his chest cavity, which happened to create enough space to allow Christopher’s heart to fit perfectly.

“I tell people I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was four because of the experience at Primary Children’s Hospital,” Jon said. “I didn’t understand anything about what the doctors were doing, I just knew I wanted to grow up and help people like they helped me.”

Jon would go on to make a full recovery from his heart transplant, but in 2003 was diagnosed with cancer – Hodgkin’s lymphoma – which affected his immune system.

A year after finishing cancer treatment, Jon’s body began to reject his heart. A switch in his immunosuppressive drugs helped him overcome the setback, and continue to help him live a healthy life today.

In early 2020, while in medical school, Jon and his family were able to meet Christopher’s family for the first time. During their visit, Jon let April and her mother Elisabeth use his stethoscope to listen to his heartbeat.

“Losing my brother was one of the hardest experiences of my life, but I take comfort in knowing Christopher’s legacy will live on through Jon, who will help save other kids,” said April.

Jon is about to begin his residency at Boston Children’s Hospital. He plans to specialize in cardiac transplant care, so that he can help kids who were in a similar situation as him – just like the medical team did at Primary Children’s Hospital so many years ago.

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