Help Les Receive a Heart Transplant

My father is currently battling congestive heart failure, which is a disease where the heart is less able to pump blood through the body, and can cause fluid to build up in the body. Currently, his heart is only working at 10%, and he is in need of a heart transplant to be able to overcome this lifelong disease. My father has undergone 2 pacemaker/defibulator procedures, survived 2 strokes, and has recently been in the hospital almost weekly due to bodily fluid build-up, and difficulty breathing that he experiences. This is all due to his heart condition that he battles daily. 

Here is his story... Leslie Castro Jr has been battling with serious health issues involving his heart since 2004; he was only the age of 39 when he was diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy, which is a form of Congestive Heart Failure.

After numerous visits in and out of the hospital, he was told that his heart was only functioning at 25%, at this time his whole life had spun around. Simple things that he used to be able to do were now very hard and tiring. 

Over the past 11 years it has been a constant battle in struggling with a weak heart. After about a year of being sick, in 2005 he had a pacemaker/defibulator installed as a precautionary measure to assist his heart.

This year the battery in his pacemaker/ defibulator finally was dying and needed to be replaced, so a whole new unit was installed. At this time, my family and I were hopeful that this would mean his heart would pump more regularly, and his condition would be less threatening to his heart. Unfortunately, within the past 2 months, his heart has rapidly gotten worse and it is now down to working at only 10%. His only hope at this time is to undergo a heart transplant procedure. 

Recently, he was informed by his cardiologist that he would need to travel to California to have a heart transplant consultation done with the doctors at Cedars-Sainai Medical Center. Shortly after, he was informed that he could not be placed on the heart transplant wait list because he lived in Hawaii. He was told that if wanted the transplant done that he would have to relocate to California to even be considered to be placed on the waitlist. His cardiologist warned him that if he stayed here in Hawaii, and didn't get the transplant done, that his condition wouldn't improve.

My father is hopeful that he will relocate to California in hopes to receive the consultation at the beginning of 2016. His cardiologist also warned him that because his heart is in such a weakened state that he needs to be prepared to undergo the artificial heart transplant surgery soon after the consultation. This means, my father needs to relocate, and reside in California until the entire procedure is complete. This could be anywhere between 3 months to 1 year. 

My family and I are humbly asking for any help to make my father's dream of receiving a heart transplant a reality. Any help that our family can get will be greatly appreciated, no gift is too small. 100% of all donations will go directly towards my father's journey in receiving a new heart. Medical expenses for the procedure along with having to relocate to California for an unforeseen amount of time are going to be very difficult for our family. 

Thank you in advance to our friends and family for your continued support and prayers in our family's time of need. Thank you and God Bless from the Castro family.