Utah woman in desperate need of heart transplant

By Lucy Nelson

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    MURRAY, Utah (KSTU) — Utah mother of four Jamaica Page is in need of a heart.

“She wants to take care of everybody and wants to put everybody before her. Which is probably why her heart is failing because she just gives so much,” said her sister, Rachael Farnworth.

Farnworth said Page has a rare heart condition called Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy.

She said in February, they got word that there was a match for Page.

“Then once they put it in, it just stopped working,” she said, “Which I think happens maybe one percent of the time. And so it was devastating.”

Now only holding on with the help of something called an ECMO machine, Page needs another heart as soon as possible.

“The hope is any moment we’re just waiting for the phone to ring saying ‘we have a heart,’” said Farnworth.

As her sister fights for her life, Rachael said the last thing she wants Page and her family to worry about is the medical bills.

“They need. The GoFundMe is to help them with their medical costs, but just to keep going, to pay their mortgage and be happy,” said Farnworth, “So the hope is that she gets a heart. They can pay their medical bills and raise their family the way they want to.”

Farnworth encourages everyone to consider becoming an organ donor.

“I thank my organ donor, I don’t know who it was, but without them, I wouldn’t be here today,” said Jessica Valtierra.

Valtierra is another one in 5,000 people with the same condition as Page.

She had a successful heart transplant one month before the two connected through their doctor.

“We were like immediately best friends because I had never met anybody that had the same heart condition around my age with kids,” said Valtierra.

She said the experience taught her a lot about paying attention to her health.

“I was misdiagnosed. Jamaica was misdiagnosed for years. This one especially, just listen, listen to your children, listen to your wives, listen to anybody’s having chest pain or feels like something’s off, get it checked out,” she advised.

It’s what Page did as soon as she felt strange shoulder pain.

Now, after a five-year battle, Valtierra and Farnworth are praying they can hear Page’s heartbeat again.

Donations can be made on their GoFundMe page.

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