Jordan Schroeder is a beautiful 23year old barista at Starbucks who loves to sing,play guitar and write music.  December 14th 2015 she was admitted to the Cardiac ICU for heart failure.  Jordan was extremely fit and always takes excellent care of herself so this was completely devastating.  Jordan went through all kinds of tests to find out what caused this.  She did not respond to any medications and was getting worse. She was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy.  The left ventricle of her heart could no longer pump as it needed.  Her heart was now enlarged and had such poor function that a cardiac catheterization needed to be done to determine her exact heart damage.  The procedure was done without anesthesia because her heart was too weak.  Any procedure done on a sick heart with anesthesia can cause death and can interrupt the heart’s rhythm.  A healthy heart does not like to be probed and hers, being so sick, had even more risk.   A normal heart 60 to 70 percent ejection rate from the ventricles; Jordan’s heart only had a 6 percent ejection rate.  We were told she had to have a heart transplant. In order to survive until the transplant she needed open heart surgery to implant an LVAD or Left Ventricular Assist Device, which would do the pumping of her heart for the left side.    Also there was a 90 percent chance she would need a RVAD to assist the right side of her heart.  If she would have had to have both, she would not be able to leave the hospital until she had her new heart.

 January 29th was the surgery.  When they started, they had the “best of the best” in the operating room because they had anticipated it would not go well.  By the grace of God the surgery went exactly as it should.  She had the LVAD implanted and when they turned it on her right side of her heart perked up.  They left her chest open for three days to make sure that the right side would function on its own with the help of meds.  It did.  The surgeons closed her chest and she was home February 11th.   

She is at home getting stronger while waiting for the gift of a new heart.  The LVAD is a major life change.  She has an LVAD pump implanted in her heart with a drive line coming from the LVAD out through her abdomen.  On the outside is a controller and batteries in a bag she wears ALWAYS.  Jordan calls it her heart because it is for now.    

 She is so very amazing; going back to to work part time and even driving.  The doctors call all of this a bridge to transplant, because her heart is no better than it was.  The LVAD and the medicines are keeping her going. 

We hope to raise enough money for Jordan to be able to pay her medical procedure and maintenance medications after the transplant.  Most people don’t know, it but there are extreme expenses that come after transplants.  The average cost is approximately $97,000 a year.  The gift of a new heart has lifelong medical costs.