Hepatitis C and Cardiac Transplantation

Leslie Castro is a 47-year-old former single ventricle patient from Pennsylvania. She was born with tricuspid atresia, pulmonary stenosis, and multiple other heart defects, and had the Classic Fontan at the age of 12 in 1985. Just over a year ago, she received a heart transplant. Her donor was a 29-year-old woman who was a Hepatitis C positive intravenous drug user, and Leslie had to take a case study drug to avoid contracting the virus. Leslie had a very bumpy road to recovery with multiple complications involving her brain, heart, and lungs, and required procedures after the transplant to alleviate a brain bleed and drain fluid from her lungs. This is Leslie’s second appearance on the show. My loyal Listeners may remember Leslie’s other program, “Classic Fontan Survivor Post-Cardiac Transplant!” (https://www.buzzsprout.com/62761/7884964)In this episode, Leslie teaches us about how some heart transplant recipients are now receiving hearts from donors who tested positive for Hepatitis C and what that means for donors and recipients.Anna's Buzzsprout Affiliate Link (if you'd like to try Buzzsprout for your podcast and get a bonus gift card -- and Anna will, too!) use this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=16817Links to 'Heart to Heart with Anna' Social Media and Podcast Pages:Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heart-to-heart-with-anna/id1132261435?mt=2MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/annajaworskiFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/HearttoHeartwithAnna/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hearttoheartwithanna/Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnaJaworskiYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGPKwIU5M_YOxvtWepFR5ZwInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/hearttoheartwithanna/ Website: https://www.hug-podcastnetwork.com/If you enjoy this program and would like to be a Patron, please check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/HeartToHeartBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heart-to-heart-with-anna--1256958/support.