Marines Tag Toddler Waiting for Heart Transplant as Fellow Fighter
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ORANGE — Local Marines gave a Hawaiian couple personalized identity tags for their critically ill 2-year-old son who awaits a heart transplant.
Seven Marines from a Tustin-based helicopter squadron donned their formal uniforms Friday and gave the tags and a stuffed animal to Jason and Darlene Pacheco.
The ceremony took place at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, where the couple’s son, Jason Jennette, is hooked up to life-support equipment until a donor can be found.
“We just wanted him to know that we think he is a fighter, just like a Marine,” said Cpl. David London, a member of Helicopter Squadron MAG16S4.
Jason came to the hospital late Sunday after an emergency flight from Hawaii aboard a Coast Guard C-130 transport plane. Because of the mammoth life-support system, he was unable to be transported by commercial aircraft.
Jason, who lives in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, was born with a dime-sized hole between two heart chambers that surgeons in Hawaii were unable to repair.
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