Santa Fe resident Aaliyah Montoya, who is 11, was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy during a routine checkup last year.
Montoya tried to use medication to control the condition, which makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body. But in October, a sudden sickness turned into a fight for her life.
“Her heart rate was going from 120 to 150, down to 118,” her father Joshua Montoya told KOB 4 News. “It was just all over the place. So the doctor said that her heart is probably giving out and she needs to be transferred back up here for care.”
Aaliyah was on her way to the Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, when her heart stopped.
“They had to turn around and do chest compressions and revive her and get her back to the hospital, put her on life support,” her father said, according to KOB 4 News.
Not knowing whether Aaliyah was going to wake up is an all-too-familiar feelng for the Montoya family.
“This all started about nine years ago,” Joshua Montoya told KOB 4 News. “My son was 4, and he had the same thing my daughter had, and we didn’t know that a toddler can go into heart failure. He was in the hospital for over a year as well.”
Both siblings were gifted a second chance through organ donation. Joshua Jr. received a new heart nine years ago and is now 13 and healthy. Aaliyah, now 11, had a transplant one month ago.
“She’s doing a lot better today,” Joshua told KOB 4 News from the Colorado hospital where Aaliyah recently underwent a biopsy to test her new heart’s health. In several months, she should be set to return home to Santa Fe.
The Montoya family has been unable to work during the last few months while Aaliyah has been receiving care in Colorado. They are raising money through GoFundMe to help with the families' expenses while Aaliyah recovers from her transplant surgery.
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