Help Matthew's Journey to a New Heart and Liver

We are putting together this GoFundMe with the help of our community to help gather funds on behalf and for a very strong young man in our local community named ❤️Matthew that was born with a rare Congenital Heart Disease at birth called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Matthew was born with half a heart and has had many surgeries starting right at birth and into his adult life.

Matthew and his mom have been anticipating the next and most scariest next step in his heart journey since he was born as his heart and liver are failing. Matthew will be receiving the greatest gift of all, the gift of life, with a new heart and new liver from a selfless donor. These funds will help support Matthew and his family with expenses to get through these challenging and scary times as they travel back and forth to New York City, nearly 300 miles each way, where Matthew will be getting his heart and liver transplant.

Please help consider donating and reading his incredible story below shared from his mom....

Matthew was born December 6, 1999 at Genesee hospital in Rochester, NY. His mother shares "We were getting ready to take him home and As we were getting ready the doctors saw he was having troubles. During this time the doctor called the pediatric team at a Strong hospital in Rochester. They assessed him and discovered that he had CHD. They called it hypoplastic left heart syndrome. That’s when they told us our sweet baby boy will need three heart surgeries and then possibly total heart transplant and he needed surgery right away. My heart shattered…We had to go to Syracuse University for our first surgery, We were there for a quite sometime and then back again at 6 months for a second surgery. Not too long after that he had a stroke and that is when we found out he had the factor 5 Leiden. which is a blood clotting disorder. Then at the age of 3 things finally started looking up. Now fast forward 15 years he was then 18 and all of a sudden the things that looked so good started looking scary for our son. This is when the doctors started talking about a heart transplant. Not only did our son need a heart transplant now his cardiologist is retired… things got harder and harder we had a few different doctors, one of the doctors started looking at Matthews liver and discovered he also has cirrhosis of the liver caused by medications over the years. We got all Matthews testing done and all things needed to be sure he met the criteria, and then the surgeon left. ‍in our part of NY there is not another qualified doctor who was willing to perform the procedures Matthew needs. So here’s where it gets to be tricky…We were referred to New York City which is 296 miles one-way. Transportation is up to his father and I. We have to rent a Car to be sure we make it to our destination safely and well my vehicle is literally zip tied and duct taped together and it is barely making trips to our Rochester appointments. The doctors recommend with Matthews liver, that we do a liver and a heart transplant all at once. That means he will need to be there at least a month before for all proper testing. This hospital has all the qualified specialists that our son needs and can get the tests done in that month before the surgery. Doctors do not want to wait too long to do these surgeries. They recommend he get suitable housing such as an airbnb or an apartment for at least minimum the 2 months. We need to go to the Doctor's at least 2 or 3 times a week to have his incisions checked and to be sure he isn’t rejecting the transplants. We also need to be sure his meds are working properly. I'm not sure of what comes of the out details."

We hope we can all help Matt and his family together and pray for his safe and healthy recovery in the coming times. Thank you to everyone who can help Matt and this fundraiser to help.

Hearts For Isabella Inc is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization created in memory of Isabella Annelise Dombrowski after sadly losing her battle after complications of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) after being born with only half a heart and having open heart surgery at only 3 months old. Through love & loss, we share Isabella’s powerfully beautiful & equally tragic story to help remember her memory and also raise awareness to CHD. By so, are also dedicated to support the many children, their parents, those living with CHD in their adulthood, and the many our communities in such special ways.

Heart hugs,

Bill & Tabitha Dombrowski

Thank you ❤️‍