Support Summer's Heart Transplant Journey

My name is Raven and I am writing this to try and help my sister and our family.

Summer was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect at birth called pulmonary atresia with an intact ventricular septum (PA/IVS). Through the years, she has spent countless hours in the hospital or at doctors. She has had a total of 6 open-heart surgeries in her 35 years of life.

After being in heart failure for quite some time and her symptoms getting worse, she decided to get a second opinion. In July 2023, she met with the congenital cardiologist at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. It was an eye-opening appointment, and they informed her that another open-heart surgery would not suffice for the symptoms she was having. In June of 2024, she had a TEE (transesophageal echo) where they found two holes essentially leaking. After discussing options, the plan was to meet with the transplant team to discuss if there were any alternative medicines to help alleviate her heart failure symptoms. In September 2024, she met with the transplant cardiologist. He informed her that ultimately a heart transplant was the best option as long as all her other organs were healthy. Due to her congenital condition, they are very cautious with the fact of not knowing when her heart will actually fully fail her. It's common for congenital patients to go down fast once they get to a certain point, but that point is unknown and can happen at any time. He set her up with a “pre-evaluation” for transplant since he needed a surgeon to make sure a transplant could be successfully done at Jacksonville Mayo. Within a week, that turned into a full evaluation. Over the next two months, Summer and our mom took many trips to Jacksonville for countless appointments. They did meet with the transplant surgeon during this time. He made them aware that Summer's previous surgeries are the reason they were able to have a conversation about transplant at all. He was very confident that even though as complicated of a surgery this will be, as long as they did all the extra planning, he was cautiously optimistic they could be successful.

On November 5th, the transplant cardiologist informed Summer he would be presenting her case to the transplant committee board. There are many factors that could make a transplant even more complicated. Everyone on the committee board has to agree that transplant is the only option and be confident that their team could successfully do it. They take every test and interview you do into consideration to make these decisions.

On November 15th, we got word that she was approved by Jacksonville to be listed for a heart transplant. After completing her final steps of evaluation, she will be listed this month.

We do know they are going to have her be admitted inpatient at some point in the next few months. Of course, there is no timeline when it comes to a situation like this. Our mom will be her main caregiver, and they will have to live in Jacksonville for at least 3 months after discharging. Tony, her husband, has a very limited amount of time to take off for Summer and their boys, but this will be without pay. Her family is rallying around her to make sure her children and animals are cared for.

We know the traveling expenses, housing expenses, food, medical, etc., can add up very quickly. We know Summer is a warrior and will fight to come out stronger. We greatly appreciate any donations, prayers, or shares of the fundraiser!!

I will be posting updates here throughout this process as well!