Norma's Journey to a New Heart

Norma Chavez is a wife of 32 yrs to Luis, mother to Kristopher and Janea, a grandmother to Aaron and Maleia (whom is on the way), and  Tia to many. She welcomes all into her family and gives anyone and everyone the love that they need. She is known by all as the one to go to if you need help with anything or just someone to listen. Norma’s heart is full of love and will do all that she can for others never complaining about how tired she is or how she is feeling.

Norma’s dad, Benito Zamora, had Familial Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and did not suffer severe symptoms until his later years giving him more time with his family. Norma stayed in constant contact with her fathers Dr’s, with both of their hard work and staying vigilant they were able to give her father a few more quality years with his family before his heart was to weak to continue on. During this difficult time Norma knew there was a good chance she could follow down the same path as her daddy but she never expected it to be so soon and neither did her family.

Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has a variety of symptoms experienced by members in the same family. Many affected with this disease do not have symptoms while in severe cases the affected individual will need to have heart transplant surgery. Symptoms that affected patients experience include chest pain, shortness of breath and this becomes worse with any physical activity, fluttering or heart pounding sensation in their chest, lightheadedness, dizziness and even fainting. The more severe the symptoms the more likely to experience heart failure (weakened heart muscle) the need for the individual to require heart transplant surgery.

Norma was diagnosed with Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at age 46. With Norma’s age and symptoms, she has been fortunate to be treated by a specialty team through Mayo Clinic. Norma’s heart is so weak it does not allow her to exercise and if she does, she could potentially have life threatening heart arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm). She is on several different heart anti-arrhythmia medications which controls her heart rate and blood pressure. Norma needs to be placed on the heart transplant list but does not meet the criteria due to her weight, although she follows a cardiac diet her heart is too weak to do the exercise needed to get her weight down. We have exhausted insurance appeal for medical necessity for weight loss surgery. This surgery is necessary for her to be able to be place on the heart transplant list as a candidate for a heart transplant. If she does not receive this surgery, she will not be able to have a heart transplant which is the only procedure to save her life. We are asking to please help us to save our wife, mom, grandmother, Tia, please help us give her a chance to fight like she fought for her daddy.