Photo: Zuleyma Santos / Courtesy
Like any pregnant woman about to give birth, Zuleyma Santos was anxiously awaiting her second baby in August 1475. Two days after the girl was born, Santos began to feel extreme tiredness and shortness of breath.
While she was feeding the baby she felt faint, but tried to be strong. When the nurse arrived to see if everything was alright, Santos, from then 36 years, she couldn’t take it anymore and expressed that she didn’t feel well. The nurse took the girl and a group of doctors came to see what was happening to her.
After various tests, Santos was diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart that does not pump efficiently enough to meet the oxygen demands of the organs.
“When I heard that I didn’t think it was real. I knew that she was in good health, ”said the young mother. “At that time I didn’t think about myself, I thought about my children and my family.”
Santos said that after the diagnosis he was undergoing check-ups constant with the cardiologist, but he passed all the exams and thought that everything was fine. She stopped focusing on her health as a priority and stopped going to medical appointments.
She went back to work as a supervisor in a retail store, but after a year the symptoms began again but with more force.
“My feet and legs were filled with fluid because my heart was no longer working well”, expressed Santos. “I used to go to the emergency room and they always sent me home with medicine, but I never felt well and I knew something was going on.”
For him 26 October of 2020 his body couldn’t take it anymore and he had to be admitted to the hospital. She was intubated, the doctors told her husband, Christopher Valdez, that her organs were no longer working and her heart was very bad. Life expectancies were minimal
she Shortly after she was taken to Keck Medicine of USC hospital where she had a pump machine implanted the heart. During her hospital stay, the mother used a machine that was connected to a computer, but when she went home they changed the device for a more practical battery-powered one
“The machine I have is what they call a bridge to a transplant because it helps me, but we have to find a heart donor”, explained Santos who is on the waiting list.
His husband loses his own battle
While Santos was recovering at the end of 2020, her husband was beginning to decline. Valdez had been diagnosed with testicular cancer five years ago and although everything seemed fine, his health began to deteriorate to the point that at the beginning of the 2020 had to be admitted to the hospital.
After a month, Valdez was evicted and chose to return home where he would spend the last days of his life with his wife and two children.
In March of 2021, Valdez lost his battle with cancer. Had 38 years old.
Santos said that despite her husband’s rapid deterioration, he never lost that glow in eyes and so far she believes he stayed strong for her to recover.
“Now I can do everything with my children, I’m fine, I don’t get tired and my blood is pumping well thanks to the machine”, said Santos, who opts for keeping a positive mind at all times.
Don’t be afraid to talk about her health
Santos said that she became an ambassador for “Go Red for Women”, a campaign of the American Heart Association to share their story of overcoming. She was recently certified as a health and life coach.
The Latina mother believes that if she had asked more questions about her health, she might have known about her condition sooner. She added that it is common to see pregnant women who go to the doctor and the fetus is examined, but the mother is not always a priority.
She explained that it is important to talk about what hurts and bothers them without fear of asking questions.
In her case, Santos said that she already tries to don’t focus on the past because you can’t change it; besides, he doesn’t worry so much about the future because he doesn’t know what will come.
“If you let yourself go, many negative things can go through your head and I try not to think negatively and see how I can help myself and my children”, she explains.
Additionally, Santos far from thinking about his celebration of the 10 May, gives him a well deserved recognition to her mother and mother-in-law, who helped her at all times to get ahead. She asserted that it has been this support network that makes her feel sure that if she needs help at any time, she only has to pick up the phone and they will come