Help a young woman awaiting heart transplant
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/04/2019 (1519 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Emma Raito, a 19-year-old Transcona resident, is awaiting a heart transplant.
Emma was born with two heart defects — an atrial septal defect (ASD) and a ventricular septal defect (VSD), which are also described as holes in the heart — and at the age of just three months she had heart surgery.
For the following 18 years, Emma led what her mother, Tanya Raito, describes as “a 100 per cent normal childhood, where she attended school, rode her bike, played outside, danced.”
Last year, after completing high school and attending grad with her friends, Emma complained of flu-like symptoms and pain in her chest. After eight months of misdiagnosis, Emma was rushed to emergency with a pain she described as like “somebody sitting on her chest.”
Emma was diagnosed with heart failure. Her heart is functioning at just 11 per cent of capacity, and her only chance to live a long and healthy life is to have a heart transplant.
Emma and her mom spend each day with their bags packed, waiting for “the call” that could happen any minute. When that call does come, they will immediately go to the airport and be medically evacuated to wherever in Canada the donor heart is located.
Because Emma is a 19-year-old adult, Manitoba Health does not cover the cost of a parent travelling with her, so a fundraising event is planned for April 27 (details below) to help raise money for Tanya to be with her daughter for the surgery and the entire recovery period. The money raised will help pay for Tanya’s flights, accommodations, ambulance fees and, hopefully, even enough for Emma’s father and two sisters to visit.
A tearful Tanya says that during the last year her daughter “has lost everything she loves. She’s 19. She had to quit school and sometimes Emma can barely walk up the stairs. We all want the best for our kids, and for them to do what other kids are doing.”
Please consider being an organ donor and register online through the Manitoba transplant website at signupforlife.ca
Emma Raito is looking forward to a healthy life and quoted Robert Browning:
“The best is yet to be.”
How you can help
• Attend the New Heart New Start social on Sat., April 27, 8 p.m., at Transcona Country Club. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased by contacting Tanya Raito at: tanyaraito@gmail.com, or you can contact me;
• If you can’t attend, you can still purchase a “support ticket.” (All support ticket purchasers will be entered into a prize draw.)
• Donate a prize. Emma’s mom says they “would appreciate anything that anyone can donate.”
Any leftover money raised will be donated to the Manitoba Transplant Foundation to help other families.
Wendy Hrynkiw is a community correspondent for East Kildonan. Email her at wendyhrynkiw@shaw.ca
Wendy Hrynkiw
East Kildonan community correspondent
Wendy Hrynkiw is a community correspondent for East Kildonan. Email her at wendyhrynkiw@shaw.ca