Krista’s Heart Transplant Journey

Hi, my name is Krista. This last few months has been incredibly hard for me. Ever since I was a kid, I've always felt off and different. I didn’t get into sports, was always tired, dizzy, had extreme anxieties, was a home body, and my legs would turn purple and swell. I never smoked, drank, or anything because I knew that It wouldn't be well for me. Over the years, I’ve been to hundreds of different types of doctors and was constantly told it was my “anxieties” or “in my head "and that I was “fine”.

All of a sudden, I started having bad chest pressure and it was hard to breathe. I figured it was probably nothing again, so I went to urgent care and they told me I had strep throat. Still confused because it didn’t feel like that; my throat never hurt. I went home and took the amoxicillin they gave me and finished it after 10 days and still felt the exact same. I then went back and told them it did not work. It was a different doctor this time and he told me he wants me to go straight to the ER, no stopping. so, as I got there, they did lots of tests and they came back and told me something is wrong and very serious. They had never seen this here and I needed to be admitted to the hospital.

I stayed at this hospital for about a week and they told me it could be viral, so they gave me heart medicine and a life vest and to follow up locally with a cardiologist. After a few days of being home, I still felt very bad and getting into the local doctors they recommended was impossible. My blood pressure was also dropping dangerously low due to the heart medications. I then went to another hospital which specializes in cardiology, and they told me I am in heart failure, and they estimated I have been dealing with this for at least 20 years to my whole life. My heart is only working at 15% and am glad I had come in because my heart is at its end, and all of my symptoms I’ve felt all stemmed from this. I could’ve dropped and had a heart attack at any moment.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been hospitalized doing procedures such as what’s called a Swan catheter to test numbers that went down my neck to my heart, Mitral Valve clips to stop the leaking of my left valve that blew out, and an ICD pacemaker defibrillator in my side. As of now, I am home healing from the surgeries and waiting for my heart transplant that is needed, which is unsure of when that is, but I am on the list. I made this GoFundMe for if anybody would like to help and donate to help with any medical bills as well as when I get my heart transplant, I am in need of having a place close to the hospital for aftercare and checkups for a few months. Thank you to everyone who has reached out and prayed for me during these hard times.