Loma Linda, Calif. ? Marine Maj. Hal Sellers got the news he had been hoping for since deploying more than two weeks ago to Kuwait: His critically ill infant son has a new heart.

Four-month-old Dillon, born with a heart unable to pump or circulate blood, was in critical but stable condition Friday at Loma Linda University Medical Center, a day after transplant surgery.

“There is no change in his condition and there probably won’t be for a number of days,” said hospital spokeswoman Kimberley Kuzma.

Dillon’s mother, Betsy Sellers, spoke briefly with her husband by telephone shortly after the surgery and said he sounded concerned but relieved.

On Friday, the 13-year Marine veteran, who had struggled in deciding whether to stay with his family members as they awaited a new heart or ship out for possible war in Iraq said the transplant had given him “a lot more peace of mind.”

“Knowing that he’s finally got a heart, that he’s got a fighting chance, certainly leaves my mind much more at rest,” Hal Sellers told CNN Friday. “I can kind of put that in the back of my mind and probably more clearly focus on what I’ve got to do here.”

Dillon Sellers is seen at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital after heart transplant surgery. The 4-month-old was in critical but stable condition after Thursday's procedure. His father, Marine Maj. Hal Sellers, is deployed in Kuwait.

Before he left, the Marines had offered Sellers a desk job at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, a small desert town 140 miles east of Los Angeles.

But Sellers had been training for months as second-in-command of the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, and he was concerned about bringing in a new member so late in the training.

“If he can’t make it home, I understand that,” Betsy Sellers said from the hospital. “I feel bad for him. He’s got the harder end of it right now. I get to hold (Dillon) and see him. He can’t.”

Dillon was 10 days old when he was diagnosed Oct. 31 with a heart defect. Although the condition can often be corrected with surgery, doctors said Dillon’s heart was too damaged, and a transplant was his only option.