She Was Told She Has Congestive Heart Failure At Just 19 And Now She Needs A Heart Transplant
Alandra Fallon is a young woman living in Arkansas who was told at just 19-years-old that she has congestive heart failure.
It was last October, 7 months ago, that Alandra received her diagnosis. As soon as doctors delivered this news to her, she was rushed into surgery a couple of weeks afterward.
Alandra had to have not one, but two open-heart surgeries. “They went well at first, however, I started having complications,” she wrote on a GoFundMe page.
“My heart did not get stronger from those surgeries. Going into surgery my ejection fraction (how much blood is pumped into your body) was around 40-45% after my surgery it lowered to 20-25%.”
Alandra says that her blood is currently pumping out of her heart at a rate of about 15%. According to the American Heart Association, a normal ejection fraction is around 50 to 70%.
“Before going into surgery I was a very active teenager who loved doing hair—making money, hanging with family/friends, going bowling…doing what teenagers love to do,” Alandra explained.
“In a nutshell, having heart surgery has caused me to miss weddings, birthday parties, school & events for people I love.”
Since her diagnosis, Alandra has celebrated her 20th birthday, but 5 days ago, she wound up in the hospital again.
GoFundMe; pictured above is Alandra
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Her heart is losing strength, and when she was admitted, doctors found out that her liver and kidneys were also not doing well.
Thankfully, since being back in the hospital, Alandra’s kidneys and liver are doing better, but she’s left in need of a heart transplant.
A consulting firm by the name of Milliman outlined in a report from 2020 that the average cost of a heart transplant here in America is $1,664,800.
A heart transplant was not Alandra’s only option, but it ended up being the best choice for her.
“There were other options but those wouldn’t be quite beneficial for me,” Alandra said. “The surgery will be very soon.”
“Even though this is very scary for my supportive family (who have been very supportive ) it’s scary for me as well.”
Alandra turned to GoFundMe to try to raise money to help her and her family too. She’s hoping to be able to help cover the costs of gas to get her to all of her medical appointments each week, and she’s hoping to be able to afford to buy the high protein and low sodium groceries that she needs to eat.
Her insurance also might not cover all of the costs of her medications, so she’s hoping to be able to use some money towards that as well.
To follow along with Alandra’s story you can visit her GoFundMe page here.
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