Anthony Stokes before the transplant (My Fox Atlanta)
Fifteen-year-old Anthony Stokes got a second chance at life Wednesday. After being kept off of the list for a life-saving heart transplant, Stokes is now recovering after undergoing the five-hour surgery.
The teen is healing in the ICU at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, FOX 5 Atlanta has learned.
Earlier in August, in a letter to Stokes' family, officials at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston said they wouldn't put Stokes on the transplant wait list because they said he had a history of non-compliance.
"He didn't have any medical history. He wouldn't, you know, make his doctor's appointments," his mother, Melencia Hamilton, said.
She said she son had only been to clinics for check-ups and immunization shots because, until then, he'd never been sick. She believes money played a role in the hospital's decision.
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