{"id":408,"date":"2026-05-19T14:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforevelynsheart\/?p=408"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:07:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:07:46","slug":"heart-journeys-are-a-marathon-not-a-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforevelynsheart\/2026\/05\/19\/heart-journeys-are-a-marathon-not-a-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart journeys are a marathon, not a race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Evelyn was unfortunately not able to get her breathing tube taken out today. Her right heart function has decreased some, so the team is going to focus on giving her more diuretics to help remove the extra fluid from her body and decrease the fluid overload on her heart. Once they are able to get that under better control, they can work toward extubating her, hopefully tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a marathon, not a race. As badly as we want to see our little girl\u2019s beautiful eyes and hear her voice again, we know this has to be done safely and only when her body is truly ready for it. Right now the goal is steady, safe progress, one step at a time. Please continue to keep Evelyn in your prayers as she keeps fighting her way forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Picture before surgery<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"577\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforevelynsheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6643\/2026\/05\/FB_IMG_1779369314368-577x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-398\" style=\"width:407px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforevelynsheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6643\/2026\/05\/FB_IMG_1779369314368-577x1024.jpg 577w, https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforevelynsheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6643\/2026\/05\/FB_IMG_1779369314368-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforevelynsheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6643\/2026\/05\/FB_IMG_1779369314368-768x1364.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforevelynsheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6643\/2026\/05\/FB_IMG_1779369314368-865x1536.jpg 865w, https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforevelynsheart\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6643\/2026\/05\/FB_IMG_1779369314368.jpg 1153w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 577px) 100vw, 577px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-you-can-help\">How You Can Help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re getting ready for the&nbsp;big fundraiser garage sale for&nbsp;COTA for&nbsp;Evelyn&#8217;s Heart! Thank you to everyone who has donated items to the garage sale! If you would like to help with the sale any of the days, please reach out to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/1ECk37Xu7M\/\">Rose Thompson<\/a> on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Garage Sale Details:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>June 4-6<br>Location: 7040 Eagle Trail, Centerville, MN<br>Time: Thurs. and Fri. 8am to 5pm<br>Sat. 8am to 12pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wl.donorperfect.net\/weblink\/weblink.aspx?name=cota&amp;id=27&amp;dpgid=COTAforEvelynsHeart&amp;dpgsol=PTOL&amp;dpg_frname=Evelyn+Otto\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click Here to Donate Now<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bonfire.com\/cota-for-evelyns-heart\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Get your &#8220;Hearts for Evelyn&#8221; T-Shirt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Hearts-for-Evelyn\/61567380579056\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Join our &#8220;Hearts for Evelyn&#8221; Facebook Group<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Evelyn was unfortunately not able to get her breathing tube taken out today. Her right heart function has decreased some, so the team is going to focus on giving her more diuretics to help remove the extra fluid from her body and decrease the fluid overload on her heart. Once they are able to get [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2374,"featured_media":398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Heart journeys are a marathon, not a race - COTA for Evelyn&#039;s Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforevelynsheart\/2026\/05\/19\/heart-journeys-are-a-marathon-not-a-race\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heart journeys are a marathon, not a race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Evelyn was unfortunately not able to get her breathing tube taken out today. 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