Published: June 25, 2008 09:52 am         

Heart Healthy

Corriganville heart recipient, family part of ABC's 'Hopkins' documentary

CORRIGANVILLE - To see him you would never begin to guess what Peyton Penrod has been through in the last year.

"If you saw him on the street, he looks like a regular 4-year-old and he acts like a regular 4-year-old," his mother, Melissa, said of her son, who's only a few weeks shy of his fourth birthday. "He's doing terrific."

That's far different from April 2007 when Melissa and Stephen Penrod took their 2 1/2-year-old son to his pediatrician because he had flu-like symptoms. Originally diagnosed with a virus, he was sent home. Within days, he was in Johns Hopkins Hospital and a top priority on the heart transplant list.

"Hopkins," a six-part sequel to "Hopkins 24/7," the 2000 documentary series, chronicles the Penrods' stay at the Baltimore facility. The ABC show premieres Thursday at 10 p.m. with Peyton's episode to air the fourth week.

Melissa recalls her son waking up screaming in pain the day before Good Friday 2007. A trip from their Corriganville home to the emergency room at the Western Maryland Health System's Memorial campus found them with Dr. Jeff Davis, who vowed to get to the root of Peyton's pain.

A chest X-ray revealed an enlarged heart and the family was faced with the choice of Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., or Hopkins. The decision made, Hopkins flew a transport team here to retrieve Peyton.

It was a trip his parents had to make by car.

Once there, the Penrods not only learned Peyton would need a heart transplant, but also that because of the medication he was on, he would need to stay in the hospital. His parents, along with Melissa's sister Glenda Denby, stayed with him.

Melissa, who works for the city of Cumberland, said she was well aware of what Peyton's situation meant.

"A child would have to die for mine to live," she said.

Because of the connections ABC had at the hospital, crews were alerted to the Penrods' case and approached the family.

Melissa, who had seen portions of the previous series as well as other medical documentaries, said she and her husband agreed to take part in the hopes that it would educate others.

The only segment of Peyton's episode she's seen was Monday night when she watched some clips on "The Charlie Rose Show." That showed one of the most difficult times for the family.

ABC's Web site said the series "delves even deeper into the world of caregivers at this hospital." The documentary follows not only the patients and their families, but also examines the impact the profession can have on a doctor's personal life.

Crews spent four months recording thousands of moments within the hospital's corridors. All caregivers and patients gave their consent prior to filming. The nearly 1,500 hours worth of footage has been culled to six hours.

For Web views, visit www.hopkins.abcnews.com.

Now that the documentary is complete, Melissa said she and her husband have two objectives for doing it.

"One is for parents to believe in themselves; whenever they feel something is wrong or different with their children, definitely stand up, speak out and get noticed," she said.

The other is organ donation. She said parents need to consider it for their children because it means life or death for another child. She said she is "extremely grateful for the blessing" Peyton received.

She also thanks Children's House, part of the Believe In Tomorrow Foundation, where the family stayed, as well as the support locally - both spiritually and financially - from many.

Contact Maria Smith at msmith@times-news.com.