The family of a 12-year-old Indiana girl claim she has been denied a heart transplant because she is not vaccinated against Covid and flu.
Adaline Deal, who is reportedly a distant relative of Vice President JD Vance, suffers from a rare defect which causes one of her heart valves to leak.
Her heart also beats abnormally fast, reaching up to 250 beats per minute, which puts her at an even greater risk of sudden heart failure and cardiac arrest.
The youngster now requires a potentially life-saving heart transplant, but Cincinnati Children’s in Ohio – where she has been treated for almost 10 years – reportedly will not put Adeline on its heart transplant waiting list because of her vaccination status.
Adaline has not had any vaccinations as they conflict with her family’s religious beliefs. ‘I thought, “Wow. So, it’s not about the kid. It’s not about saving her life,”‘ Adaline’s mother, Jeneen, told The Enquirer.
Hospitals usually require patients be vaccinated against preventable diseases because transplant recipients take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent organ rejection, which makes them more vulnerable to infections.
Jeneen , who is related by marriage to JD Vance’s half-siblings, added: ‘We’ll take it as we can if it happens. But I know I cannot put this [vaccine] in her body knowing what we know and how we feel about it.’
Adaline Deal, who is a distant cousin of Vice President JD Vance, suffers from a rare heart defect Ebstein’s anomaly, which has left her with a heart valve that doesn’t work properly
Transplant recipients in the U.S. are strongly recommended – but not mandated – to be vaccinated.
Doctors typically recommend vaccines before transplantation whenever possible to ensure the patient is protected while their immune system is still strong.
But the specific requirements can vary depending on the transplant center and the patient’s condition.
Research has indicated that transplant recipients are at a higher risk of dying from Covid when compared to non-transplant patients.
Along with Covid, transplant patients must also receive vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella and other diseases like hepatitis B.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Cincinnati Children’s for comment.
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Adaline was adopted from China when she was aged four, and her adoptive mom Jeneen said she knew about her health problems at the time.
Jeneen, who has 12 children in total including eight who are adopted, says she and her husband Brayton are now looking at taking Adaline to a different transplant center that doesn’t require vaccinations.
To date, the couple have raised more than $50,000 via Go Fund Me to pay for the necessary treatment.
On the donation page, they write: ‘She has grown so much that now her heart can’t sustain her.
‘So, we are seeking funds for the heart transplant process.’
Adaline was born with a heart defect known as Ebstein’s anomaly, which has left her with a heart valve that doesn’t work properly.
Fewer than 50,000 people in the US have this kind of heart defect.
Adaline also has Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, which is a condition that causes the heart to beat abnormally fast for periods of time.
Adaline Deal, who is a distant cousin of Vice President JD Vance , suffers from a rare heart defect Ebstein’s anomaly, which has left her with a heart valve that doesn’t work properly
Jeneen and Brayton Deal have 12 children in total including eight who are adopted
For those with WPW – which affects roughly 130,000 people in the US – the heart could go as fast as 250 beats per minute, when the usual resting rate for an adult is between 60 to 100 beats per minute.
It is common for people with WPW to suffer from other structural abnormalities of the heart, such as Ebstein’s anomaly.
In response to the Deal family’s plight, Ohio Rep. Jennifer Gross is co-sponsoring legislation that will prevent Ohio hospitals from continuing to discriminate against children based on their vaccination status.
‘I’m proud to be the sponsor of the Ohio bill that seeks to prevent discrimination against religious liberty. Stay tuned. #PrayForAdaline,’ she posted on X.
Jeneen, who is working with Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom to support the bill, concluded: ‘I’m so hopeful that this bill will save all the other children and adults so they don’t have to go through what Adaline’s had to go through.
‘It’s 2025. It’s time to move on from all this madness. [Getting vaccinated] should be your choice.’
Adaline’s case echoes the travails faced by 16-year-old leukemia-sufferer Dazelle Peters in Sydney, Australia, who was denied a lung transplant in 2023 for the same reason.
Sydney’s St Vincent’s hospital said at the time their ‘policies and guidelines wouldn’t support transplantation’ of an unvaccinated person.
