But those knickknacks didn't compare to the gift the 10-month-old received weeks before - a new heart.

After surviving 47 days on an experimental heart pump, Kaidence got a living, beating heart of her own.

"She's here because someone was willing to sacrifice and give us such a beautiful gift," said the tearful mother, Shauntelle Stephenson, at a news conference Monday.

Kaidence is the youngest Utahn ever to receive an experimental heart pump known as the Berlin Heart - the only device small enough for infants. She was among 108 recipients in North America.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration still hasn't approved the out-of-body pump, it consented to its emergency use in November to save Kaidence's life.

It worked.

The pump - installed during a seven-hour surgery at Primary Children's Medical Center - kept Kaidence's blood flowing until two days before Christmas, when a new heart arrived.

Without it, she would have suffered heart failure from a condition known as idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, which had caused her heart to swell three or four times larger than normal.

"It is pretty clear that she wouldn't have made it this far without that bridge to a heart transplant," said Peter Kouretas, the cardiovascular surgeon who installed the device. "Overall, it went very well."

But it didn't go perfectly. Surgeons lauded the device's performance as a lifesaver, but spoke of an infection and blood clot that made Kaidence's hospital stay no "walk in the park."

Kaidence returned home Jan. 10 to a late-Christmas celebration, having spent 97 days at Primary Children's.

"I've had so much fun in the last couple weeks," said her father, Mike Stephenson, gazing at his blue-eyed baby - her hair pulled into a pigtail, a cloth mask covering her mouth and nose. "It's just great to have my daughter home."

While Kaidence's risk of rejecting the heart will remain high during the next six months, cardiologist Melanie Everitt said the child has recovered extremely well.

"She'll lead a happy, normal life," Everitt said. "She'll be able to go to school, participate in sports and enjoy being around her family and friends."

Cardiologists say a donated heart will last 15 years or more in about half of all recipients. By then, they must seek another heart.

While the hospital declined to give any details about Kaidence's donor, Shauntelle Stephenson wept as she thanked the family for saving her daughter.

"They wanted us to be happy," she said, "and not have to go through what they've gone through. We recognize that. We are thankful for that."

jstettler@sltrib.com