New Heart For Tanya

My name is Jackie and I created this page for my friend and co-worker Tanya. There are so many things I could say about Tanya; how funny she is and how hard she can make you laugh when you're having a bad day. With how dedicated  she is to her patients and their babies
 it was almost impossible to realize that she has such a severe condition. She always has a big smile on her face and makes everyone around her happy.  Our friend Tanya has recently suffered complications from a heart defect and as a result she has been placed on the transplant list and will remain at Brigham and Women's until her new heart becomes available. The donations from this fund will be used to help with Tanya's extensive medical bills over the next few years along with family expenses.

When Tanya was 4 months old she was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (aka, her heart was too big). When she was 11 years old she went into cardiac arrest after a walk with her sibilings. She was flown to UMass Memorial in Worcester. About a week later, she was transferred to Children's in Boston where she recieved her defibrillator. Since then she has been able to enjoy a life where her heart hasn't limited the things she wanted to do.

Six years ago, she transferred care to Brigham and Women's.  With improved results on her stress test and the results of the rest of the evaluation, she was able to stay off the transplant list and continue to be managed with medication.

At the beginning of August, Tanya went in for her yearly stress test and routine visit with her cardiologist. Along with the decrease in her stress test results, he noted that she was retaining more fluid. She was then scheduled to be admitted to BWH the following week for another transplant evaluation. She was there for 9 days where she met with numerous doctors and the transplant team.  When the team  decided it was best to list her for transplant. She  was discharged home on a continuous IV med with frequent visits with the visiting nurses. 

On 8/30  the visiting nurse found her blood pressure to be running too low. After a call to her cardiologist, they decided to re-admit  her because along with the BP, her sodium and potassium levels were off. Thinking she was coming in for a few changes in her meds, she was shocked to find out their plan was to have the cardiac cath placed again to monitor her for a longer period of time. There are three levels of priority on the list and she is now on the highest.

 Tanya will remain an inpatient at Brigham and Women's until the transplant, however long that may be.  That could mean weeks or months. Your prayers, love and support mean everything to Tanya and her family. Thanks for reading thanks for sharing! Xo