Lew Jopek Jr Waiting on Lewy’s Gift

First post: Sep 17, 2018 Latest post: Feb 21, 2020
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Lew’s Journey began in 2001 when he was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. 
Lew has non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, a condition that results in progressive weakening of heart muscle resulting in poor blood supply to vital organs and eventual death. Lew began experiencing unusual shortness of breath and fatigue at age 42; shortly thereafter his evaluation indicated a weak heart muscle. Over the years he followed regularly with his cardiologist and did remarkably well with medications. Once his condition stopped responding to medications he was referred to the Advanced Heart Failure Therapies (AHFT) program at Aurora St Luke’s Hospital where he was one of the first patients to undergo a Cardiomems remote pressure monitor system implant in 2015. This device offered him the security of remote tele monitoring and gave the AHFT program vital heart pressure data to manage his medications. Over a period of 6 months he continued to have progression of his illness and was not able to even perform basic day to day activities without significant shortness of breath. The AHFT program at Aurora St Luke’s evaluated him for heart replacement options including left ventricular assist device (LVAD) and heart transplantation. Due to the severity of his illness and the scarcity of available hearts he underwent the latest LVAD implant called Heartmate 3 in October of 2017.
While his journey has been long we are hopeful that he will eventually receive his gift of a heart through transplantation.



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