Lincoln McNeil was a patient at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital who developed cardiomyopathy along with his two sisters.
History
Ivy
Ivy, 15, was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. She spent four months waiting for a heart transplant before one came through. The transplant was successful and Ivy began to recover. ("You Be Illin'")
Two weeks post-op, Ivy's indices were good and she was recovering well. ("I'm Winning")
Later, Ivy spiked a fever. Cristina took her to the OR for a biopsy, which revealed that she was rejecting her donor heart. They treated it with anti-rejection medication and put Ivy back on the transplant list. ("Go It Alone")
Still in full rejection, Ivy was kept in isolation. While Frankie was in surgery to receive a heart transplant, Ivy declined, bumping up her status to 1A. When a second heart was found to replace the one that failed for Frankie, it was instead redirected to Ivy. The transplant was successful and she was recovering well. ("Change of Heart")
Ivy was later discharged to recover at home. ("We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together")
Frankie
While Ivy was in surgery getting her new heart, Jon McNeil brought their second child, Frankie, into the ER because she was coughing up pink fluid. She, too, was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. The doctors inserted a pacemaker. ("You Be Illin'")
Two weeks after her pacemaker was inserted, Frankie was doing well, even walking around the hospital. ("I'm Winning")
While playing Hide and Seek with Braden Morris, Frankie collapsed in a hallway. When she was found, her pulse was weak and she wasn't breathing well. She was taken into surgery to insert an LVAD and then she was put on the transplant list. ("Go It Alone")
Frankie's LVAD failed to reverse the heart damage, which left her in desperate need of a heart. One became available, but when they transplanted it, they discovered that it had been damaged during retrieval and couldn't keep her alive. When a second heart became available, Arizona and Alex went to retrieve it personally while Frankie was kept on bypass in the hospital. While they were gone, Ivy declined rapidly, bumping up her status. Cristina made the decision to redirect the second heart to Ivy, who was more stable and had a better chance of survival, while she attempted a total artificial heart on Frankie. That procedure was unsuccessful and Frankie was pronounced dead in the OR. ("Change of Heart")
After Frankie's funeral, Sabine snapped at an orderly who tried to take Frankie's pillow. ("We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together")
Cardiomyopathy
While waiting in Frankie’s room while the doctors talked to his parents, Link started to cough up pink fluid just as Frankie had. ("You Be Illin'")
Link was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and declined quickly. They attempted to put him on a Berlin Heart, but he was clotting too much. They put him on ECMO and he stabilized. However, after 10 days on ECMO, he began clotting even with heparin. Owen was able to convince the FDA to give compassionate release to use a drug-eluting heart pump to buy Link more time to wait for a heart transplant. The device was implanted successfully and they said they'd wait 24 hours and start to wake him up. ("I'm Winning")
Link's heart pump worked well, keeping him stable as he waited for a heart transplant. ("Change of Heart")
Link was later discharged and allowed to wait for a heart transplant at home. ("We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together")
A heart became available for Link during the aftermath of the explosion at the Mall of the Woods. Despite this, they had Link come in to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital for his transplant. The transplant was successful. ("Fear (of the Unknown)")
Diagnosis
A few weeks after Link's heart transplant, Maggie Pierce, who was looking into genetic causes of cardiomyopathy for another patient, discovered what had caused the McNeil kids' cardiomyopathy. A mutation called RAF 1 had been discovered to cause cardiomyopathy only a week before and all three McNeil children had that mutation. Sabine was relieved that it wasn't something in their house or something she had done. ("Puzzle With a Piece Missing")
Relationships
Familial
Link has two siblings, both of whom, like himself, have been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.
Notes and Trivia
- He was nine years old at the time of his hospitalization.
- He was one of the last patients treated by Cristina Yang in Seattle.
Gallery
Episodic
Appearances
| Grey's Anatomy, Season 10 | |||||
| #01 | "Seal Our Fate" | #09 | "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" | #17 | "Do You Know?" |
| #02 | "I Want You With Me" | #10 | "Somebody That I Used to Know" | #18 | "You Be Illin'" |
| #03 | "Everybody's Crying Mercy" | #11 | "Man on the Moon" | #19 | "I'm Winning" |
| #04 | "Puttin' on the Ritz" | #12 | "Get Up, Stand Up" | #20 | "Go It Alone" |
| #05 | "I Bet It Stung" | #13 | "Take It Back" | #21 | "Change of Heart" |
| #06 | "Map of You" | #14 | "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" | #22 | "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" |
| #07 | "Thriller" | #15 | "Throwing it All Away" | #23 | "Everything I Try to Do, Nothing Seems to Turn Out Right" |
| #08 | "Two Against One" | #16 | "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" | #24 | "Fear (of the Unknown)" |