Stefani Pentiuk

Photo courtesy of the Pentiuk family

Twelve-year-old Stefani Pentiuk plans to become a nurse and actually looks forward to doctor appointments.

The Michigan girl's interest in medicine stems from her heart transplant, performed in 1999 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Despite nearly losing her life prior to receiving a donor heart, Stefani uses words such as "awesome" and "amazing" to describe her experience.

Four years later, Stefani is a typical seventh grader — playing basketball, singing in choir and reading adventure books.

"I've been feeling great," she says. "I'm practically normal."

The first sign of trouble

The first hint of Stefani's heart problems came during the summer of 1999, when she complained to her parents of a persistent stomachache. Her mother took her to an urgent care facility during a family trip to Detroit to determine the cause of Stefani's stomach pains.

A doctor alerted Stefani's mother that her daughter's heart rate was alarmingly fast and urged her to take Stefani to a hospital. She was admitted to William Beaumont Hospital and diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart with poor contractility.

Doctors told her parents, Heidi and Perry, that Stefani had likely contracted a virus that caused her heart to enlarge. She was treated at William Beaumont for five days before being transferred to a Michigan's children's hospital, where her health stabilized.

Stefani was sent home, with Heidi and Perry told to monitor her and alert doctors of any changes in her health. Stefani was getting worse, her mother recalls, when the phone rang — a doctor from Mayo Clinic who was vacationing in the family's home town had heard about Stefani. Martha Grogan, M.D., a Mayo adult cardiologist, asked if she could help.

Heidi and Perry took Stefani to see Dr. Grogan. She noted that Stefani wasn't faring well and encouraged the family to send their daughter's medical records to her at Mayo Clinic for review.

After looking over Stefani's records, Dr. Grogan urged Heidi and Perry to re-admit her to a hospital immediately. She also started working to have Stefani seen at Mayo as soon as she was healthy enough for transport. On Sept. 8, 1999, Stefani arrived in Rochester.

Coming to Mayo

Heidi calls Dr. Grogan the family's guardian angel. Perry remembers thinking the cardiologist had "taken care of everything."

"Every time we called, she was there," Perry says. "She was so solid. We got to the emergency room at Mayo and she'd taken care of everything."

After arriving at Mayo, Stefani's condition quickly worsened. Her organs began to fail and she was placed on intravenous medications for life support. Doctors called Heidi and Perry into a conference room, telling them that the end was likely near for their youngest child.

Strong faith and a new heart

After the conference with Stefani's doctors, her parents returned to her hospital room to find her rebounding. Stefani held stable long enough for a donor heart to become available, just days after she was placed at the top of a national transplant list. And on Sept. 14 she went into surgery, emerging with rosy cheeks — evidence of her improved circulation — feeling better than she had in months.

The Pentiuks credit their strong faith in God and prayerful community in Leland, Mich., for Stefani's recovery. Perry names Stefani's doctors, the Missouri family who donated their son's heart for transplantation and God as the heroes who saved Stefani's life.

She recovered at Mayo for a few weeks before moving to the Gift of Life Transplant House in Rochester. She stayed there with her parents for three months while undergoing frequent check-ups. Back home, Stefani's older sister Anna and best friend Ellen anxiously awaited her return.

Back to normal

She went home on Dec. 12, finding a cluster of relatives and friends at the airport and townspeople lining the streets to welcome her home.

Heidi calls Stefani "a little inspiration." She's grateful for the care Stefani received during her transplant and the attention she's received from Mayo doctors in the four years since then.

"Something about Mayo that is really nice is that we can call there with questions and it's not like she's a number," Heidi says. "They know Stefani personally. The personal attention to those details and feeling as if I can talk to someone immediately is so important."

Co-burn J. Porter, M.D., a Mayo Clinic pediatric cardiologist involved with Stefani's care, said "constant surveillance" is part of Mayo's team approach to treating transplant patients. A team of specialists meets weekly to discuss transplant patients and their cases.

"Families become very familiar with our whole group," Dr. Porter says. "It's an important part of the medical care we deliver here. It's a team approach and it's very intense."

Stefani eagerly returns to Mayo twice a year for check-ups. Her upbeat outlook is an advantage, Dr. Porter says, as it helps her cope with a daily medication regimen and regular doctor visits.

"It's a tremendously stressful ordeal, both physically and psychologically," Dr. Porter says. "She's a charming young lady and is always upbeat. She has a smile that's always great to see."