Maya
15 years since diagnosis
Age at interview: 32
Maya is a childhood cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with cancer at 15 months old and was treated with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and chemotherapy drugs. One of the chemotherapy drugs was Adriamycin, which is known to be cardiotoxic. She was followed at a children’s hospital until at the age of 14, when they noticed that her ejection fraction had decreased and she was first diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. Then at the age of 17, Maya suddenly had a stroke. It was at this point that the doctors notice an arrhythmia that caused a clot to form in her heart and go up to her brain. Her health started to slowly decline after her stroke, starting with fluid weight gain and her slowly getting more and more short of breath. It wasn’t until Maya’s ankles had swollen like ‘an elephant’ and an edema in her stomach that she was formally diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Her shortness of breath and palpitations led Maya to stop going to school. This led to many cardiac procedures being done, and at the age of 21, Maya received a heart transplant. Throughout Maya’s journey, she had her family beside her, especially her mother, a healthcare professional, who was able to advocate for her and helped her navigate the healthcare system.
More content
- Finding Support – MayaMaya expresses her gratitude for her mother's advocacy efforts which has helped her learn how to manage her own care.
- Impact on Daily Life – MayaMaya's job at a summer camp resulted in fluid retention.
- Impact on Work, School, Finances – MayaMaya shares her disappointment in not being able to do the things she wanted to do.
- Impact on Work, School, Finances – MayaMaya talks about having to leave school and move back home with her parents.
- Medications – MayaMaya says the treatment she received for childhood cancer may have caused her heart failure.
- COVID Challenges – MayaMaya describes herself as lucky to have had no issues with accessing care during COVID.