September 28, 2017

Pennsylvania Woman, 54, overcomes unexpected life-saving heart transplant

Media Contact

Cleveland Clinic News Service | 216.444.0141

We’re available to shoot custom interviews & b-roll for media outlets upon request.

Media Downloads

CCNS health and medical content is consumer-friendly, professional broadcast quality (available in HD), and available to media outlets each day.

images: 0

video: 0

audio: 0

text: 0

CLEVELAND – Heart failure impacts more than three million women in the United States.

But one Pennsylvania woman – who took pride in her heart-healthy lifestyle– never expected to be one of them.

Brenda Kapp, 54, considered herself healthy; she ate right, exercised daily and didn’t smoke, but in 2014 she was having trouble breathing and thought it might be asthma.

“I had started just short of breath and wheezing,” said Kapp.

However, Kapp’s doctors suspected heart trouble.

She saw several specialists but they couldn’t agree on how to treat her, so she drove three hours to Cleveland Clinic where she was diagnosed with a rare and deadly heart condition called giant cell myocarditis.

“These patients tend to be very sick, very quickly, they have a lot of abnormal heart rhythms,” said Maria Mountis, D.O., of Cleveland Clinic. “They go into cardiogenic shock, their heart just becomes very weak, and it’s not pumping out enough blood flow to the rest of their body.”

Kapp’s heart muscle was inflamed and deteriorating quickly. She was shocked to learn she was being admitted to the intensive care unit, in need of a heart transplant.

“They put me on the transplant list and had to have a balloon pump to keep me alive,” said Kapp.

After about two weeks, just as her pump was about to fail, Kapp received a new heart.

“I really feel that God intervened at my last hours,” said Kapp.

Doctors don’t know why Kapp developed the condition which led to heart failure, but one thing is certain, she’s grateful to be alive and encourages others to speak up when something’s wrong.

“You really have to be an advocate for yourself, and when you’re not feeling well and you are healthy and you think, it can’t be anything, you know, serious because I’m healthy, I’m here to prove that, it, there can be something very, very wrong,” said Kapp.

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. Cleveland Clinic is consistently recognized in the U.S. and throughout the world for its expertise and care. Among Cleveland Clinic’s 81,000 employees worldwide are more than 5,743 salaried physicians and researchers, and 20,160 registered nurses and advanced practice providers, representing 140 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic is a 6,690-bed health system that includes a 173-acre main campus near downtown Cleveland, 23 hospitals, 276 outpatient facilities, including locations in northeast Ohio; Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Toronto, Canada; Abu Dhabi, UAE; and London, England. In 2023, there were 13.7 million outpatient encounters, 323,000 hospital admissions and observations, and 301,000 surgeries and procedures throughout Cleveland Clinic’s health system. Patients came for treatment from every state and 132 countries. Visit us at clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at twitter.com/CleClinicNews. News and resources available at newsroom.clevelandclinic.org.

Editor’s Note: Cleveland Clinic News Service is available to provide broadcast-quality interviews and B-roll upon request.

Latest from the Newsroom