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Mars baseball player, 8, waits for a new heart

Tyson Szelong, 8, left and Colton Baumcratz, 8, sell stickers bearing the initials of John Clark, a friend and fellow Mars baseball player who contracted a heart infection in November 2023 and is on the wait list for a heart transplant at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Submitted photo

John Clark was an active second-grade student in Mars Area School District and a baseball player in his youth baseball league when he contracted a heart infection after a routine dental procedure.

The Pokemon fan loved Brazilian jujitsu, spending time in the outdoors, visiting his grandmother and going to school, said his father, Jarrod Clark. John would clamor to get his homework done on his way home from classes, Clark said.

Now at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, John attends school for about an hour each day through a hospital-based educational service offered through Pittsburgh Public Schools as he waits for a new heart.

The wait has now surpassed 144 days, Clark said.

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