Hello Everyone,

It’s Emily, Gabriel's sister. For those that know Gabe personally, know that he has fought for his life multiple times from a very young age. Aside from being diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder called Pemphigus Vulgaris at 14 years old, Gabriel also started experiencing cardiac issues at the age of 18. About three years ago he entered into heart failure. He had a diffibulator placed in Septemeber of 2022 and after 8 years he was finally diagnosed this February with Arrythmogenic Cardiomyopathy. With this heart disease, he would eventually have no other option to get a heart transplant. On 07/24/23, he was admitted into the hospital for a coronary thrombosis and pulmonary edema. After performing a cardiac catheterization, his heart failure specialist thought it was time for Gabriel to be evaluated for the transplant list. He was then transferred to Memorial Regional Hospital where their heart failure team decided he was a candidate for a heart transplant. On 08/25/23, he went in for a Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump placing him as a level 2 on the list . Unfortunately shortly after being extubated, Gabriel went into cardiac arrest twice and was placed in a medically induced coma where his team decided that they would start him on ECMO (a form of life support) and place him on the transplant list as a Level 1 recipient which means he was a top priority. Doctors even advised us that he was the second patient in their hospital to be placed as a level 1 in 6 years which was very frightening for us as a family. Thankfully, on 08/30/23 we were advised that they found a heart for Gabe. After being in a coma for exactly a week, Gabriel received his heart transplant on 09/01/23. Gabriel himself can say that this has been one of the hardest challenges he has had to face. We are so grateful for the love and support we have recived from family and friends. In the early stages of his recovery, Gabriel has had to relearn how to write, talk, walk, drink and eat. He still has a long road of recovery ahead of him not only physically but emotionally as well. We want Gabriel to recover without any of life's additional stresses. As anyone can imagine, he has medical bills that he will be needing to pay along with monthly bills that he needs to cover while he is out of work during his recovery process which is very crucial during his first year after transplant. This has been a roller coaster of emotions for our family and the fight continues. We appreciate anything that helps. Please share Gabriel's story with family and friends.