Evelyn’s Heart Transplant

I’m Brittany and I’m creating this fundraiser for my niece Evelyn Prater who is currently waiting for a heart transplant.

Evelyn was born with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and that was corrected surgically. Unfortunately, she developed cardiomyopathy that was being treated with medication. A few weeks ago, Evelyn went into acute heart failure at the hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When the doctors realized there was nothing else they could do for her there, they contacted the pediatric heart failure clinic in St. Louis. After being flown to St. Louis, she was determined to be a candidate for a heart transplant. They placed a ventricular assistance device but she did not progress with that intervention and was correctly diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. They realized from a biopsy of her heart that it was too stiff to be adequately supported and she had to be put on ecmo. She will remain in the hospital trying to rehabilitate on ecmo until a donor heart is found.

Felicia and Jerry have already faced the loss of a child when their 2nd daughter Scarlett passed away from a stroke after going into heart failure. They have 3 other daughters who are being cared for by family during this time. Felicia is usually a stay at home mom who homeschools, so Jerry is the sole income provider and has been unable to work for several weeks. Any money donated will go directly to Felicia and Jerry to assist with the costs of being relocated for an extended period of time.