A little transplant update on Evelyn. As part of her routine monitoring while she waits for her new heart, the transplant team checks her antibody levels every two weeks. This week was the first time they found that she has developed some Class II HLA antibodies, with a cPRA of 29%.
In simple terms, these antibodies can make her immune system recognize some donor hearts as “not a match.” Right now, if a donor heart were to come along that matched those antibodies, the team would not accept it because the risk of rejection would be too high. Thankfully, this does not mean she can’t receive a transplant, it just means they have to be more selective in finding the safest match for her, which could mean an even longer wait.
The encouraging news is that her team believes these antibodies are most likely related to inflammation from all the trauma she’d gone through over the last month, rather than something permanent, but time will tell.
They’re hopeful they’ll “wash away” over the next few weeks, and they’ll continue checking her levels every two weeks to watch for improvement.
As always, we’re taking things one day at a time and trusting the process. We appreciate every prayer, every kind message, and everyone who continues to walk this journey with us.
How You Can Help
A big thank you to all who have donated to COTA for Evelyn’s Heart. Because we raised over $100k within our first 6 months of fundraising, we have earned the $10k challenge grant through COTA! We are so grateful for how our community has rallied for Evelyn in every way and helped us reach this milestone. We literally could not do this without you.
THANK YOU!
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What makes our partnership with COTA so great is that they will be with Evelyn throughout her lifetime. Every dollar donated to COTA in honor of Evelyn goes to transplant-related expenses. Thank you for being here with us for Evelyn.