Many people describe having a child as having your heart live outside of your body, but what happens when their heart can’t keep up?
That’s what four-year-old James and his family are finding out as they wait for his second heart transplant.
“He did really well with his heart transplant up until about two years ago,” said Heather Lazeski, who is James’ mom.
“He went into this really weird heart rhythm and after a lot of tests, they determined that he needed another heart transplant.”
James has cardiac allograft vasculopathy which is causing his arteries to narrow. While waiting for a new heart he has monthly checkups at the B.C. Children’s Hospital and is on eight different medications including injections twice a day.
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“It’s hard to think that you went through all of this and to wrap your head around having to go through it again,” said Lazeski.
Their stay in hotels while at B.C. Children’s Hospital is covered through the B.C. Family Residence Program and a majority of the cost of James’ medications are covered but they still pay $400 a month. They also need to cover the cost of food and gas to travel from Peachland to Vancouver.
“We go to the Medical Day Unit. He gets a treatment called IVIg — it’s for his immunity — then he gets and ECHO, an ECG, we meet with the team that includes social work, his cardiologist, his nurses and bloodwork,” said Lazeski.
This is a cycle Ashley McKilllop knows well. The organizer of the Kelowna Snowmobile Club’s annual poker run has a congenital heart condition and is currently waiting for her seventh open-heart surgery.
“A lot of people don’t experience these things their whole life and we have been experiencing it our whole lives. It’s not out of the norm and we are just going with it day by day,” said McKillop.
This year, all donations from the fundraiser will go to the Lazenskis to lessen the financial burden as the family waits for the call from Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, saying that it’s time to receive his transplant.
The fundraiser will take place Feb. 15 at the Kelowna Snowmobile Club off Highway 33 of 3 Forks Road. The road is well-maintained and all are welcome to join. There is a lunch by donation, prizes and a kids area where kids can try out snowmobiling on a small course, as long as they bring a helmet.
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