[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image – Joseph” src=”https:\/\/utahchd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/3_resized2.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” animation_style=”slide” animation_duration=”500ms” animation_intensity_slide=”10%” animation_direction=”left” show_bottom_space=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″][et_pb_testimonial admin_label=”Testimonial – Joseph” url_new_window=”off” quote_icon=”on” use_background_color=”on” background_layout=”light” use_border_color=”off” body_line_height=”1.6em” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial” _builder_version=”3.0.105″ quote_icon_background_color=”#f5f5f5″]<\/p>\n
My name is Joseph and I was born with CHD (Congenital heart disease). My first open heart surgery was the day I was born. I had my second surgery when I was just over 1 year old and my 3rd\u00a0when I was 7. To be honest, I don\u2019t remember much of those surgeries. Right after my 3rd<\/span>\u00a0surgery I had started 2nd<\/span>\u00a0grade. During 2nd<\/span>\u00a0grade I had to carry around an oxygen tank with me everywhere I went. I missed a lot of school that year due to my health problems and about half way into 2nd grade I had a pacemaker put in. It was the only time I spent my birthday in the hospital. Even after I got my pacemaker I still got tired really easily and my lips would turn blue (a sign of low oxygen in the body) when I would exercise very much. My health problems never kept me from acting like a normal kid. I played with friends, went to school and even participated in PE. Even though I felt like a normal kid I couldn\u2019t quite keep up with my friends and peers. For the next several years I had little to no problems with my heart. I acted, was treated, and felt like a normal kid. Then in 5th<\/span>\u00a0grade my pacemaker had one of the wires go out so I got my pacemaker replaced. After that I went back to being in good health and acting like a normal kid for about 2 years. Between 6th<\/span>\u00a0and 7th<\/span>\u00a0grade my family moved to the next town over (so not far from where we were). Due to the move I made some new friends. Since I was around 12 years old I was supposed to be growing, but because of my heart I wasn\u2019t. Around the beginning of 7th<\/span>\u00a0grade I developed protein losing enteropathy (PLE). PLE is a condition where your body does not store protein. After being diagnosed with PLE I was put on a high protein diet and was put on steroids. Unfortunately, I did not like protein since my body didn\u2019t want it and the steroids didn\u2019t work to get rid of the problem like they were supposed to. I tried a few other types of medication to help solve my PLE (one being an injection I had to give myself) and none of them worked. \u00a0The only other option for me was to get a heart transplant. At this point I had finished 7th<\/span>\u00a0grade and was heading into 8th<\/span>. My body had become really weak where it was exhausting for me to sit through school and I wasn\u2019t allowed to participate in PE. Due to this extreme exhaustion I dropped out of school and became home schooled. In November of my 8th<\/span>\u00a0grade year I was put on the heart transplant list and I received a transplant just 2 months later. After the transplant I was in the hospital for 3 weeks. By the end of the 3 weeks I was ready to get out of my little room. For the next 4 months I wasn\u2019t allowed to go anywhere but the hospital and my house. I could have friends and family come over and visit (if they weren\u2019t sick). I had weekly biopsies and doctor appointments to make sure my body was not rejecting my heart. There was a ton of medication I had to take to keep my body from rejecting my heart. I was allowed to go back to school for 9th<\/span>\u00a0grade and I was even allowed to participate in PE. I finally felt like a normal kid again and I even started growing. Since my transplant (10 years ago) I became an eagle scout, I went on a LDS mission, am now married, and going to nursing school. I still have to go see the doctor every 3 months and I get a big work up every year. Now I feel more normal than I ever have.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Patient’s Perspective Joseph’s Story My name is Joseph and I was born with CHD (Congenital heart disease). My first open heart surgery was the day I was born. I had my second surgery when I was just over 1 year old and my 3rd\u00a0when I was 7. To be honest, I don\u2019t remember much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":877,"menu_order":137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1596","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utahchd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utahchd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utahchd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utahchd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utahchd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1596"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/utahchd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2219,"href":"https:\/\/utahchd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1596\/revisions\/2219"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utahchd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utahchd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}