Kristopher Kampa Kris Kampa

Kris is a 17 year old who has Dialated Cardiomyopothy.

On 2-10-09 Kris had Open Heart surgery to implant an LVAD. 
On 5-16-09 Kris received his New Heart!! 





Kris's story started on June 10, 2005 - the first day of summer vacation for Kris and the day that his soccer clubs annual tournament was to begin. Kris had been complaining of a stomach ache all week that would come & go, so be Friday mom decided it should be checked out and took Kris into the clinic thinking maybe a possible leaking appendix. His doctor could not diagnose a cause so sent us off to have a CAT Scan ASAP. The radiologist determined that there was something very wrong with Kris's Heart and after speaking with our doctor Kris was to go right to the Childrens Hospital in Minneapolis. It was there that they gave us the diagnosis that Kris was in severe congestive heart failure due to Dilated Cardiomyopothy -this is a heart disease that enlarges the heart making it very difficult for the heart to pump ones blood efficiently. Kris was admitted to the ICU there and spent most of June in the hospital. Because of this condition the Docs recommended that Kris have a defibrillator/pacemaker implanted before we left the hospital. In July 2005 at a follow up appointment the docs told us that with all the heart meds they were giving Kris his heart was not responding to them and was getting worse. At this point they told us we needed to come to the U of M to be evaluated for Heart transplant. On Aug 5, 2005 Kris was put on the national waiting list for a heart transplant. In the meantime the docs had a PICC line put in so Kris could be at home on IV heart meds hoping to keep his heart as best as they could. His heart responded well to these meds and after 10 months he was able to be off the IV med. This puts us roughly at July / Aug 2006. Kris started school with no problems and had a pretty quiet year as far as any heart issues. Through out 2007 Kris was very stable and was actually delisted in Dec of 2007. We made it though 2008 with stability until Nov. Kris had a bout with pneumonia which put him in the hospital for a few days. From this point on his heart function became very unstable and we spent a lot of time at the Cardiologists office. In Jan of 2009 we thought Kris was having another bout of pneumonia but it wasn't that this time but that his heart had taken a real drop in function which brings us to his current status.
On Feb 10, 2009 Kris had an LVAD implanted to keep the blood pumping thoughout his body and to give his natural heart a rest while we waited for a Heart transplant.
On May 15, 2009 received the call that there was a heart available for Kris and that we need to go to the hospital. We waited at the hospital and at 4:43 am on Sat May 16the 2009 Kris was taken down to the OR to undergo Heart transplant surgery. At 2:30 pm May 16 Kris was brought back to the ICU with a NEW HEART!!!!!