From Well-Child Visits to a Lifesaving Heart Transplant

Isabella is a spunky bundle of joy and energy.

The now 12-year-old has had regular doctors’ appointments throughout her young life at the Children’s Hospital Colorado Child Health Clinic, which has served as her medical home, supporting primary care, disease prevention and well-child visits, like it has for so many other kids living in Aurora, where Isabella lived as a toddler.

“When children and families come to the Child Health Clinic, we focus on treating the whole child. We know the majority of children’s health is impacted by social determinants of health, which include things like their home environment, economic factors, education and their social community,” said pediatrician Tai Lockspeiser, MD. Medical care in a clinical setting accounts for only 20% of what influences kids’ overall health and health outcomes. 

“We all felt confident that Isabella (and her siblings) would get the care that they needed at the Child Health Clinic, because we had confidence in Children’s Colorado,” said Isabella’s great-grandmother, Paula, who is a retired family physician.

Since she started going to the Child Health Clinic for her well-child visits, Isabella has been under the care of Dr. Lockspeiser. “She’s always been there for me; she listens to me and helps me. I’m not scared because I know she’ll be there,” said Isabella. Although Isabella would have occasional abdominal discomfort and acid reflux, she was overall a healthy kid; all her symptoms were very common for a kid her age.

However, in late 2021, as the holidays approached, Isabella’s wellbeing took an unexpected turn. She contracted respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Through Isabella’s diagnosis, doctors discovered a more alarming health problem – she was in heart failure. The little girl had an enlarged heart, and her congenital defect was so severe that she needed immediate care and, ultimately, a heart transplant.  

“The signs of her heart failure were really easy to miss; Bella would gain weight and swell but was otherwise healthy, every symptom seemed to have an answer,” said Paula. “It turned out that both sides of her heart were in failure. One side looked like she had had a heart attack. She was living all that time with a weak heart.” The team in the Heart Institute at Children’s Colorado monitored her closely and worked to keep her stable while she waited for a new heart.

Isabella’s care team from the Child Health Clinic was with her every step of the way, visiting and checking in on her while she was in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. About six months later, in May 2022, Isabella was given the ultimate gift – a new heart –and a new chance at life.

Isabella now comes to Children’s Colorado every four months for checkups on her heart and continues her well-child appointments at the Child Health Clinic. Her care team says she has done a great job of caring for herself, and her family has been a great partner, too, making sure that she continues to get stronger and thrive. Her story is a living testament to the boundless capacity of the human heart.

A very special donor is at the center of every transplant story. We thank the many families who help make our extraordinary care possible.