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Christina Tatu Denise McGaughran poses with her son Dillan, who underwent a heart transplant last year. Photo by April Gamiz/The Morning Call CATASAUQUA, Pa. — Dillan McGaughran is longing for the first signs of spring, when he can put on his catcher’s mitt and start playing baseball again, enjoying the fresh air and the crack of the bat as it sends the ball soaring over the fields at Catasauqua Park, where the 12-year-old plays with his dad and five brothers. McGaughran’s heart was always in the game, but because of a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, he hasn’t always be...

CATASAUQUA, Pa. (AP) — Dillan McGaughran is longing for the first signs of spring, when...

A Catasauqua boy is looking forward to getting back on the ballfield after undergoing a heart transplant last summer.

"I played baseball for about 4 years," he begins. Baseball, football, he likes all of them, but when he was just 5, his mom Denise noticed something. "He just seemed to be a little slower," Denise says, "Super smart, but physically, one step behind." The doctors did some tests, and discovered Dillan had a genetic heart condition. They managed it for a while, but earlier this year, doctors said he needed a heart transplant. "Yeah, those were difficult words to hear," Denise says. Denise knew the risk. She actually got involved in the Gift of Life organ donation program seven years ago.