Cris Rodriguez

When I was 15 years old, I woke up one morning with chest pain. Initially, doctors had difficulty determining the cause. When I was finally diagnosed, we learned it was myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) caused by a virus.

I was expected to make a full recovery. Instead I ended up developing dilated cardiomyopathy. At 20 I developed staged four heart failure and after 4 years on 4/20/2015 I received my first heart transplant. I went through repeated anti-bodied rejection and shot arterial clots with resulting in almost losing my leg. I was relisted for another heart transplant because I developed coronary artery disease. I received my new new heart on 8/9/2019.

I have been battling with my mortality for my whole adult life and as we all know this battle cost more money than someone who is limited can regularly afford. I will be dealing with these finances as well as continued treatment for the rest of my life.

Funding these life-saving operations is a monumental task. Even with insurance, Cris will have many uninsured medically-related expenses such as: copays, travel, relocation and the astronomical costs of post-transplant immunosuppressant medications they will need for the rest of their life.

To help offset the financial burden, a fundraising campaign in Cris honor has been established with HelpHOPELive, a nonprofit organization that has been assisting the transplant community for 30 years. All contributions are tax-deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive in the Southeast Heart Transplant Fund, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for transplant-related expenses only. Please consider making an end-of-year tax-deductible donation.