Radamel Falcao helps Colombian teenager find donor for heart transplant

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/23/radamel-falcao-helps-teenager-find-heart-transplant

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The Manchester United striker Radamel Falcao has helped a 17-year-old from Colombia to find a donor for a heart transplant, the patient’s mother told the Efe news agency in Bogotá.

John Andrés Uyaban had been on the waiting list for two years when his plight was brought to the attention of Falcao by relatives in his native Colombia, prompting the striker to post a Facebook message that read: “Help us get a new heart for John Andrés, a 17-year-old kid with all the desire to keep fighting.”

Ten days later John Andrés received news that he would receive the heart of another young man from Medellín, who had died in an accident.

John Andrés’s mother, Sara Fernández, told Efe: “I give thanks to God and Falcao – he’s related to some cousins of mine who talked first to his father [Radamel Garcia] seeking his help in this effort,” she said.

Fernández said she did not speak directly to Falcao because he was busy training at Manchester United “but he found out anyway and decided to help us”, she added. Her son underwent the transplant operation last week and is now recuperating at the Bucaramanga cardiovascular foundation in northern Colombia, where he is in the initial recovery stage.

“They’re going to perform another small surgery and we hope it’s not complicated,” she added. “I always had that hope that Falcao would help us because he’s a public figure. Everyone listens to him and he’s also very humble and really believes in God.”