MEDINA, Minn. -- A Wayzata High School baseball player from Medina is back home after undergoing a heart transplant at Mayo Clinic's St. Marys Hospital in Rochester.

Carter Anderson received his new heart in November just two days after turning 16 -- a birthday gift his family said they will forever be grateful for.

"We are and we will always be thankful for our donor," Carter's mom Phalen Stang said. "Never in a million years did I ever think that we would need an organ."

Friends, family, baseball teammates and neighbors gathered at Carter's home on Thursday to show their support and welcome him back home.

"I didn't think this many people were going to be here," Carter said after coming home. He spent roughly three months recovering at the hospital and Ronald McDonald House in Rochester.

A routine checkup in 2021 led to the discovery of Carter's genetic heart condition: a rare form of cardiomyopathy. In May of 2022, he underwent surgery to receive an implantable device that would track his heart rate.

But as an active kid who loves baseball, Carter's heart was not supporting him. The implantable device went into shock multiple times -- a signal that Carter's heart was failing him, both off and on the baseball field.

"In the middle of our fall ball game, he had his shock," Carter's teammate Thomas Stauffenecker recalled. "It was just really scary because I saw the ambulance pull up and I didn't really know what was happening."

Carter said he's feeling much healthier now and is looking forward to returning to playing baseball in the spring.

There are currently more than 4,000 people across the United States waiting for a new heart, according to Donate Life America. One organ donor can save up to eight lives.