Hello everyone!
In honor of Congenital Heart Defect awareness month we wanted to update you on your THIRD impact. We apologize for the delayed update for this month—it was extra hard going through all of these sweet kiddos’ biographies this time around but we are so thrilled to be able to support them. We couldn’t have done this without all of you. Thanks to YOU we have now helped a total of 18 families! Please read about our latest group of heart heros below.
Mi’Elle Miles, 1 year old: Mi’Elle is a 1-year-old little girl who resides in Chicago with her parents and two older brothers. Mi’Elle received a lifesaving heart transplant at just one month old. Her new heart is working well, but she had to have part of her small intestine removed and could possibly need another transplant for her small bowel. https://cota.org/cotaformilesofhearts/our-story/
RJ Bailey, 2 years old: RJ is a 2-year-old boy from Ohio awaiting life-saving heart transplant. At around 1 month, RJ’s health began to decline and he was listed for transplant. This has resulted in numerous inpatient hospital stays, which has been difficult as RJ is the youngest of 5 children. https://cota.org/cotaforrjsjourney/our-story/
Kuiper Belt, 2 years old: Kuiper is form Loretto, Tennessee. Kuiper was diagnosed before he was born with a Complete Atrioventricular Septal Defect (AVSD). The original plan was to wait until he was four to six months of age to correct the AVSD with surgery, a procedure to close the holes in his heart and go home after he was healed. As the weeks went by, his heart function slowly declined and he was listed for transplant. He received a life-saving heart transplant in May of 2023 before he was six months old. COTA was able to assist with lodging near the hospital at the time of transplant so that Kuiper’s family could stay near the hospital while Kuiper was inpatient. https://cota.org/cotaforkuipersheart/our-story/
Kyler Houchens, 2 years old: Kyler is a toddler that lives in Kentucky with his parents and six siblings — all under the age of 11. He was adopted from the Kentucky foster care system. He started to get sick when he was just four months old and shortly afterwards was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy—the same condition as our heart hero Isabel! His heart function was able to stay stable for about a year before he had to be listed for heart transplant. Kyler received a heart transplant in November of 2024, just a few weeks shy of his second birthday. At the end of December 2024, Kyler finally went home after being admitted for seven months.https://cota.org/cotaforkyler/our-story/
Logan Epps, 3 years old: Logan and his parents are from Liberty, South Carolina. He is currently inpatient at MUSC where he has spent much of his young life. Logan was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome before he was born and spent the first 5 months of his life in the hospital. He is currently waiting for a heart transplant and has already had 4 open heart surgeries over the last 3 years. Logan’s parents are trying to work and spend as much time as they can in the hospital with Logan, and his grandmother is able to stay with him while his parents work. https://cota.org/cotaforheartwarriorlogan/our-story/
Taylor Bryant, 6 years old: Taylor is a 6 year old girl from Pensacola, Florida. Taylor has a pacemaker while she is waiting for her life-saving transplant. Transportation has been a continued struggle as Taylor and her family live 350 miles away from the transplant center. https://cota.org/cotaforteamtaylor/
Xiavier Clark, 16 years old: Xiavier (nickname Zae) is a 16 year-old boy from Chicago. He was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at just 3 months old (just like our heart hero Isabel!) but was able to manage with medications. He was accepted into Devry University Academic Academy to earn his Associates Degree in Computer Science while finishing his junior and senior year of high school. He loves to work out and play video games. At 16 years old, his condition took a turn for the worst and he was in heart failure. Zae received his new new heart in December, and has been doing well post-transplant although he had to be readmitted with an infection shortly after being released from the hospital. Transplant has been hard on the family financially; mom is currently driving for Uber but has not been able to work much while Xiavier has been in and out of the hospital https://cota.org/cotaforzaestrong/.
Isaac Secrest, 17 years old: Isaac was born in China with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He had two open heart surgeries in China and was doing well. He was adopted at age 11 and brought home to Louisville, Kentucky to his new parents and two siblings. In December of 2023, Isaac underwent an exploratory heart cath to determine the cause of some conflicting test results. It was discovered that his repaired heart was full of holes and needed to be revised sooner rather than later. Isaac’s surgery went beautifully in July 2024 and he was on the road to being released. However, around 5 weeks post-op and his first week of high school, he began experiencing disturbing GI issues and unusual fatigue and weight gain. One week later we learned he was in heart failure and had to be listed for transplant. He is still awaiting transplant now. https://cota.org/cotaforisaacshope/our-story/
