Mary Ann Saitta's Heart Fund

My friend Mary Ann's life was turned upside down last summer when her heart suddenly went into congestive heart failure.  She is a wife and mother of 2, the youngest of whom is in 7th grade.  She went from being a healthy, hard-working spa and salon owner in her 40s, to being a medical mystery in an instant.  No one knows exactly what happened -- maybe a virus attacked her heart--- all we know for sure is that her heart doesn't work well enough for her to work or live a normal life. 

Now this journey with Mary Ann's  sick heart is breaching another new territory.   She is currently on the heart transplant list here in St. Louis, MO.   She leaves for Chicago in the next few days so that she can be evaluated for placecement on the heart transplant list there. It is possible to be listed in two different transplant centers and regions for sooner probability of receiving an organ.   If she qualifies for the Chicago list, she'll remain in Chicago in the hospital for  3 to 6 months.  Her husband Curt serves as a police officer in STL, the need to be there for Mary Ann and their daughter Sophia, as well as managing work, the loss of Mary Ann's income AND a broken leg!  They have a lot going on.  

This from Mary Ann -- "I'm most likely getting an intra-aortic balloon pump insertion (IABP). Then wait for a transplant which should take about 6 weeks. I would be listed as a 1A transplant patient top priority. I am also eligible for a pediatric heart (14-18yrs old) My aftercare can be done in STL after I'm stable. I've had to face I'm getting sicker. Scary!  I have never been away from my immediate family except my son who's all grown up and lives in NOLA.  My emotions are raw. And don't get me started on my extended family...my dogs. It was different when I had to be in the hospital here in STL for a month because they were only a car ride away. Plus friends and family could visit and boy they did! Thank god for Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Lol Cars, FaceTime, Amtrak and Airplanes.

I pray for the family who looses a family member but has the courage and decides to give the precious gift that they have to others like myself waiting to survive and benefit from their loss. If one person signs the back of their drivers license it could possibly lead to being a donor to 8 different people. Every 8 minutes a person is added to the national transplant waiting list. Each day 21 people die waiting to be transplanted. The number of people on the national waiting list continues to grow, while rates of donation and transplant remains stagnate. I believe part of my journey is to make people aware of these statistics. As of 10:35pm STL time I am 1 of 123,368 persons on the national transplant list tonight. There have been 2,577 transplants from 1257 donors. In 2015 the number of Heart transplants that have been performed in Missouri is 22 & Illinois is 15 to date. In 2014 MO there were 188 performed & IL: 234. I never knew there were so few hearts done. My eyes are wide open now.

Here's to getting a new birthday soon and being able to have many to come after a successful surgery without rejection with a gift from a selfless but generous one. Whoo wee the anxiety is palpable!!!"

If you can help ease the enormous burdens on this family, please donate today.