There's an Illinois connection to the story about a baby making history on the East Coast.
A North Carolina baby has a new heart, and now, in first of its kind of surgery, a bolstered immune system too. Springfield area native Joseph Turek was the doctor involved.
"Can we develop tolerance for, in my case, for heart transplants," Turek said. "The idea of tolerance is kind of the holy grail for all of transplant patients. Because any organ we put in right now, the body wants to reject that organ, and the only thing we can do is place patients on high doses of medications that help to suppress the immune system so that they don't reject the organ."
The baby was six months old at the time of last year surgery and prospects are good.