Dear Friends and Kind Souls,

My name is Paige. I'm swallowing my pride & reaching out with a heavy heart for support during this challenging time.

At 35 years old, I've been diagnosed with Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy (HOCM), a grave heart condition that has completely disrupted my life. It not only affects me, but also places a significant weight on my devoted partner.

HOCM has stripped me of the simplest of joys & has made even the most effortless tasks completely impossible, with the constant fear of sudden complications always on my mind. This diagnosis has completely turned my life upside down. I have had to resign from work & go on disability, heavily plan out many routine tasks in my day-to-day life, if I can manage to get out of bed that day. This includes normal activities such as going to the store or just folding laundry. This condition has completely taken away my ability to maintain the active and independent lifestyle that I once had.

Since my diagnosis in January, my life has been a terrible sequence of hospital admissions, heart failure scares, and an exhausting regimen of medications, including a newly FDA-approved treatment (CAMZYOS) that requires constant monitoring to prevent devastating consequences.

Each week, I have a never-ending cycle of medical appointments and tests to make sure the new medicine isn’t causing me to go back into Heart Failure. Each aspect of my life is monitored. I will be attending a 3-month cardiac rehabilitation program, as well as consulting an open heart surgeon at the Mayo Clinic.

Since I am on the last specialty drug option Doctor’s have to offer for this condition & having horrible side effects that don’t outweigh the benefit, I'm inevitably heading towards open heart surgery. This procedure, Septal Myectomy, will require me to undergo a five plus hour surgery, requiring physically cutting open my chest to conduct a wide-open, hands-on surgery to cut out the excess muscle obstruction in my heart, allowing blood and oxygen to flow freely throughout my body.

Heart Failure Specialists require this to be done at a Center of Excellence (Cleveland Clinic or Mayo Clinic) due to the complexity and risks of the surgery, requiring precision and expertise. This requires us traveling out of state, far from any friends & family. The closest one is the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Unfortunately, for myself, this is also a battle against time. Doctor's have stated that due to the anatomy of my heart & with the amount of obstruction, I'm in-between being a candidate for this surgery and no-longer eligible. Due to the severity, they are not surprised the medications aren't working well for me, either. If this open-heart surgery is no longer an option for me, my last resort is a Heart Transplant.

The financial burden of this battle is crushing, with medical bills piling up and the prospect of travel and extended stays for treatment adding to the strain. Newly married, my partner has been a pillar of strength, shouldering this burden, but the weight is immense, and the path ahead is daunting.

So I am taking a chance and reaching out to you—not just for financial support, but for the strength that comes from knowing that I am not alone and that you, whoever you may be, have joined me on this journey. Your generosity can help lighten the load, allowing me to focus on recovery and the chance to reclaim a semblance of the life HOCM has tried to take from me.

Lastly, if you cannot donate, it warms my soul to know that you found my page and read my story. I am profoundly grateful for your time, your kindness, and your willingness to stand with me in this fight. Your support - any support - means the world to me.

Thank you,

Paige

**Update** (June 22, 2024)

I want to thank everyone for their efforts, donations, & kindness thus far. I have been on specialty heart medication, made it to all of my weekly appointments at the heart failure clinic, echocardiogram screenings, & cardiac rehab. I also made a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona for more tests & a plan of action. I wouldn’t have been able to get this far without everyone’s support, so thank you again!

That being said, the current situation is as follows... The testing and appointments at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale were more detailed & informative of my hearts condition(s) we’re dealing with. Unfortunately, it is worse than anticipated. Luckily, I don’t have any scar tissue at this time, but I do have three obstructions, one being a birth defect & the other two are caused by my genetic disease (muscle thickness blocking the pathway for sufficient amounts of blood to pass through my heart). This is deemed a complex case, in which only 3 surgeons in the United States are equipped to handle (2 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota & 1 at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio).

As of June 21, I have officially secured a surgery date & will be heading to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota early August for my Septal Myectomy (open heart surgery). I am completely terrified that my chest is having to be cracked open, but I am not able to sustain life on the medication (as stated by the Mayo Clinic). I feel like a shell of myself, going from an energetic & optimistic person to struggling with each breath. I need a chance to live again.