A 20-month old boy has survived his second heart transplant within a week. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic transplanted a second heart into the little boy, Kobe Giese from Fargo, after the first heart transplant which was performed four days ago failed.

The little boy was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy shortly after his birth. For no known reason, his heart became enlarged and weak. He needed a transplant. He was airlifted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., on June 3, and placed on a transplant waiting list, the StarTribune.com reported. The next morning he had trouble breathing and doctors told his parents that the boy would be dead within hours unless they put him on a heart-lung machine to pump his blood, the same source reported. Even with the machine, Kobe needed a new heart as soon as possible. A new heart was found but doctors cautioned Kobe’s parents that it was not a perfect heart. The situation was critical and the child likely wouldn’t have lived another week without a new heart. After the surgery doctors discovered the heart wasn’t functioning properly. The next day the family found that another heart was available.

“We were very, very lucky,” Kobe’s transplant surgeon, Dr. Joseph Dearani told the St. Paul Star Tribune. “And sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.” He said it was the first time when he has performed two transplants on a child in a week. After the first transplant operation it seemed all was lost. But the boy was lucky. Today a new heart is beating in Kobe’s chest. Doctors are hopeful for a full recovery.