John Zito Needs Your Help For His Heart

Hi everyone, this is John's brother Jimmy. Some of you may know John's long history and battle with his heart condition, some do not.... John was diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) when he was 15 years old. He was getting ready to play freshman football at CHS when his physical turned up an irregular murmur and he was sent for follow up and subsequently diagnosed. HCM is basically an enlarged heart, but there is nothing basic about it. We have all heard tragic stories of athletes where the diagnosis is missed and they sadly pass away of sudden cardiac arrest while exercising.... this is HCM. Johns athletic pursuits had to end and he was started on a medication to slow the growth of his heart, but damage continued. While the heart muscle thickens it causes damage to valves and heart efficiency as chambers become smaller. This all causes heart failure.

John was able to live mostly uninhibited until his 30s when the heart failure became too much. He underwent open heart surgery when he was 36 ears old where they repaired a valve to help with heart function, but it was minimally effective. Over the next several years his condition prevented him from working. The combination of the heart failure with the extensive medications left a once strong young man much weaker and short of breath with minimal activity. He began having episodes for atrial fibrillation and other complications. It became clear that he would eventually need more invasive surgery, but hopefully not until much later.

This past year the condition accelerated and John became a shadow of himself. The instances of A-Fib became frequent requiring many trips for cardiac inversion where they have to shock the heart to get back in rhythm. He dropped weight down to less than me, he was always cold, short of breath, and just felt lousy. He stopped really communicating with me as much due to just not feeling well and felt he was being a downer despite my reassurance. A month ago the doctors had determined he would have surgery at the end of June. They would replace a valve, thin the wall of the chambers in the heart (myectomy) and ablate the nodes causing the A-Fib (MAZE). However John's heart could not wait... on April 18th after another A-Fib incident they determined it could not wait as heart failure was getting worse. They scheduled the surgery for 4/23.

On 4/23 (at 49 years old) John went in for his second open heart surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He was in surgery for well over 8 hours. They ended up replacing both aortic and mitral valve, myectomy, and MAZE. This was much more than expected. He has been in the ICU since then. For the past two weeks he has remained intubated on a ventilator. At one point he was on on a heart and lung machine (ECMO) and additional support. Thankfully that has been removed. They think he may have had a small stroke post up. He has still required to be kept under sedation. His cognitive assessments have been up and down. Responding ok at times and not well at other times. Very scary to see him like this. The surgery itself was successful (heart looks good), but he is struggling with gas exchange in this lungs, an infection, pneumonia and the neurological issues. They have him on dialysis now as well to help clear toxins that may inhibit his cognition.

I have had people ask how they can help. John and his lovely wife Shari live outside of Chicago in Warrenville. They also care for Shari's elderly mother. The financial hardship they have endured due to this condition has always left them to live frugally. The past year has decimated them. The best way to support them would be with a financial gift through this Go Fund Me. Saying my brother has always had a big heart is both physically true and also reflects how much he loves his friends and family. He would not ask for this help he so desperately needs. Please consider donating to this cause to assist in paying bills and expenses that they need help with. If you can't help financially, please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Send all that Love and healing energy his way! Thank you everyone. - Jimmy