A day after undergoing a lifesaving heart procedure, 18-year old Patrick Kahuma was discharged from UNC Hospitals on Tuesday. Kahuma's trip from his home in Uganda was sponsored by UNC Project Uganda and numerous charities.

Kahuma had two procedures Monday morning in UNC's Children's Heart Center. The primary procedure was to widen a narrowed valve in his heart, a defect since birth. Dr. Elman Frantz also did a procedure to close a hole that had formed in an upper chamber of Kahuma's heart, inserting a mesh device that essentially blocks the hole and allows normal tissue to grow over it. UNC Spokesperson Tom Hughes said the mesh insert that Dr. Frantz used dislodged later in the day, requiring another procedure to replace it late Monday night.

Kahuma and his aunt are staying with Dr. Dirk and Paige Hamp of Wake Forest, who met the Kahumas during a trip to Uganda where the Hamps adopted their daughter, Jane. Their trip inspired them to co-found an organization called Embrace Uganda to raise awareness of the needs of orphaned children in that country.

Hamp is a pediatrician in Wake Forest.