Britten Cooney Heart Surgery Fund

Britten has been my best friend since middle school. She is one of the most giving, loving people I know. If you know her, you are blessed. It you don't know her, you should. 

If you have the means, please donate to ease some of the burden this journey has placed on her and her family. 

Here, in her words, is her life journey and the struggles she has overcome to continue being the amazing person she is.

My name is Britten Cooney and I am asking for your help.  First, I want to ask for prayers.  I believe that God hears us, and He is in control no matter what happens.  “So don’t worry, because I am with you. Don’t be afraid, because I am your God. I will make you strong and will help you; I will support you with my right hand that saves you.” Isaiah 41:10 (NCV)  I am a 44 year old mother to two wonderful blessings and wife to an amazingly supportive husband that doesn’t seem to mind any of my crazy quirks.  I love my family, my friends and my community.  When I was in the second half of my senior year of high school I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  The good news was it was the most curable cancer, all I had to do was go through several months of daily radiation treatments.  The bad news, that we didn’t know at the time, was the long-term effects that the radiation would have on my health in the future.  

Throughout the years I’ve had little issues show up that have been attributed to radiation side effects.  My thyroid stopped working first so I am on medication to help and although my doctor, during my cancer treatments, said that I would be able to have kids it was very difficult and after reading some other survivor’s stories I am realizing just how much of a miracle my kids are and how blessed I am to have had them.  

In 2014 my heart issues started.  I started having atrial fibrillation and shortness of breath.  After going through some tests it was determined that the radiation caused calcium to build up around my aortic and mitral valves.  My symptoms were able to be controlled with medication and my valves were not to the point to take action yet.  In 2017 my symptoms were much worse and my quality of life was going downhill fast.  I decided at this point to start visiting the doctors at Cleveland Clinic.  The doctors at the Clinic have more experience with patients with a history of radiation.  They decided to refer me for TAVR (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement), with the scar tissue that I have from the radiation they didn’t want to do open heart surgery as a first option.  On January 25th 2018 I was told that I was a great candidate for TAVR but they were scheduling out into April.  This was good and bad news at the same time.  The doctors told me without the procedure I would more than likely be dead before the end of the year.  My daily life consisted of getting up to get my kids off to school and then going back to bed.  I had no energy for anything.  I was so excited when less than a week after that appointment I received a phone call saying there was a cancellation and the spot was mine if I could get to the Clinic the next day.  My TAVR was done on January 31st 2018 and I started to feel better within hours!  I had been having vision issues and that was better, my energy already felt better and my cognitive issues were better.  I was so excited to be able to volunteer at my daughter’s school again and get back to life!  It even helped with my Afib.


Ten months after my procedure I began to experience what I thought was Afib again.  One day I was rushing through the grocery store because I needed to pick up my daughter from volleyball.  I could feel myself going into what I thought was Afib and getting close to the point of passing out so I tried to make it to a chair but must have passed out as I was trying to sit down.  I woke up a few minutes later to people all around and they called the squad.  My pulse was over 200bpm.  While I was in the hospital it was determined that I was now experiencing Atrial Flutter and the only medicine that worked to regulate my heart caused liver and kidney damage if taken for too long.  


 I went back to Cleveland Clinic and after running tests it was determined that the best treatment for my Aflutter would be ablation.  In April 2019 I had heart ablation surgery.  The procedure went very well and I am so thankful for the doctors there.  My doctor told me after that surgery that he doesn’t always do the procedure with a scope but just felt he needed to with mine.  He treated the area where Aflutter usually originates and then went to the area where Afib originates.  He saw on the scope that the area had a large area of calcification so he didn’t ablate it.  If he hadn’t used the scope he could have ended up knocking the calcium lose and it could have caused serious issue for me, including a stroke. It just helped reaffirm that I was making the right decision to go to Cleveland Clinic for my care. After my ablation I was very excited to get back to my normal activities again!  I even got my dream job as a nutrition services worker (yes, a lunch lady)!  I love my job, I love the ladies I work with and have so much more respect for these ladies now that I am doing the job.  The physical strength it takes to do the job is crazy!  


In the beginning of 2020, I began experiencing chest tightness and shortness of breath.  I was so frustrated, I really thought we had solved this with all the procedures I had gone through.  I didn’t know what could be causing it.  The symptoms have only been getting worse.   My co-workers knew that I had been struggling and helped me so that I was able to continue working until I went for more tests at the Clinic.  I returned from Fall Break and my trip to Cleveland with bad news.  I needed to take a leave from my job and my left main artery (aka the widow maker) had severe blockage and my TAVR valve was not functioning properly causing my symptoms.  My team of doctors have suggested open heart surgery.  Included on my team is the top heart surgeon for people with a history of radiation.  He knows how to operate around the scar tissue and the high risk involved.  My surgery is going to be a bypass and replace my aortic and mitral valves with mechanical valves.  My surgery is scheduled for December 1st 2020.  We will be spending the four days before Thanskgiving up in Cleveland for pre-surgery tests and meeting with a host of doctors.  Then we get to come home for Thanksgiving and to love on my kids and then back up to Cleveland for my surgery and the long recovery ahead.  The nurses are telling me that the recovery for patients that have had radiation is longer than normal open heart surgery patients.  I am looking forward to playing ball with my son again and helping out with the marching band especially for my daughter’s senior year next year and definitely to getting back to my great co-workers in the kitchen!  


While I am so lucky and blessed to be in the hands of the best heart doctors in the world, have great support from family/friends, and be fortunate enough to have health insurance, the direct and indirect costs of having three major heart surgeries in less than two years has taken a toll on our family emotionally and financially.  


I am so grateful for your prayers and will mention you all in mine.  I am so thankful for any gift you feel led to give.  This road is long and I don’t know what the future holds for me but I am grateful for every day that I have on this earth and try to live with a smile on my face no matter what I am going through because you don’t know who might need it or what they’re going through.