With the cost of a transplant often exceeding $500,000, many transplant families are unable to shoulder the financial burden of such a procedure.  The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is a national charity dedicated to organizing and guiding communities in raising funds for transplant-related expenses.  In Chicago, volunteers are raising funds for COTA in honor of transplant patients like local baby, Miles Bejarano.

Miles is the son of Angel and Roxanne Bejarano.  Born on November 16, 2013, Miles was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy.  The doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Chicago in Illinois have recommended a life-saving heart transplant.  An estimated $60,000 is being raised by volunteers.
 

His heart condition was found by accident, he did not have normal symptoms of someone with heart problems. Miles is known for being such a happy baby that his heart condition would never have been known if it wasn’t for his visit to the Emergency Room, so it was a blessing in disguise. He went into the ER because after one minute of tummy time his lips turned blue and wasn’t breathing right. After observation, Miles was okay but a resident requested to do an x-ray to look at his heart and it showed he had Enlarged Heart in the left ventricle. After further tests, it showed Miles is in critical condition, but all the doctors were shocked to see how normal his behavior was since he had such a sick heart. According to the doctors and lab results, Miles was born with this condition and was slowly struggling with very minimal symptoms that were not known to be related to a heart condition. The only real first sign related to the heart condition was sweat, Miles started to recently sweat a lot but his pediatrician stated that it was normal. Miles was in critical care at Lurie Children’s hospital and waited on the heart transplant list for over 30 days.

On March 29th, we received a blessing that a heart was available for Miles and went into surgery on March 30th. Surgery was only about 6 hours which was quick and it was a smooth surgery. Per the doctors, his heart was so enlarged that it was easy to close and stitch him up. They warned us that after surgery he would look grey and many cords will be attached to him. When we saw him at 3:30pm March 30th-he looked so pink and wonderful, all the nurses and doctors said he was a ROCKSTAR. After 3 days, one by one cords were getting removed and his sedation were lowering-he was recovering so well. We were discharged on April 15th and headed to Ronald McDonald House. The facilities at Ronald McDonald House are amazing and we will continue to donate to them and be grateful for letting us stay at there house.

We had a few incidents going in and out of the ER for choking issues, but we eventually checked out of RMH and was finally home in mid June. 

It has been quite a journey this year and really appreciate what the power of prayer has done. It has given us strength and hope for a brighter future for Miles.

Thank you for reading our story and visiting our website. We are truly blessed and truly grateful for all the support and prayers. 

More pictures of Miles: http://flipagram.com/f/TCxVLACiPb