'It's not just you anymore that's in your body': Green woman receives donor heart

In most cases, when a transplant recipient receives a new organ, it restores them to a life they knew before they became sick.

Katherine Schroeder-Herrmann's situation is much different in that her new heart has given her a life she's never known.

The Plain Township native, now 23, was diagnosed with Shone's complex, a rare heart defect diagnosed in just 1% of infants. A genetic malformation, Shone's complex involves at least three defects that obstruct the blood's flow through the left ventricles, or chambers, of the heart.

At just 3 months old, Schroeder-Herrmann underwent the first of 20 procedures, all taking place before her 22nd birthday. She describes many of the surgeries as maintenance and heart catheters.

However in 2018, life for the friendly and upbeat young woman took an ominous turn as she was recovering in the ICU following a routine pacemaker replacement.

"I met Dr. (Gerald) Boyle, who was the pediatric cardiologist at the time, and he stood in the room and he goes, 'You know you're in heart failure, right?'" she recalled. "And I said, 'Yeah,' because what else are you going to say?"

Growing up with Shone's complex

Schroeder-Herrmann, a 2018 graduate of GlenOak High, now lives in Green.

"I was grateful that both my parents raised me in a way that I didn't always think about the negative," she said. "And so, for me it was 'OK, you know I have a heart condition and we're going to maintenance it and work on it.' Both my parents wanted to make sure I used my condition to the best of my abilities. I couldn't do sports in high school but I did work with the American Heart Association, and did commercials for (Akron) Children's Hospital growing up."

She participated in dance, choir and theater. Plain Local took her health seriously, but she also had to take many days off because of doctors' appointments and being sick.

"It was hard on my social life and connecting with peers," she said. "Many never understood why I got to leave class early or have recess inside to keep me safe from extreme heat/cold or the commotion of the playground. I worked to have as normal of a childhood as I could."

Dr. Eileen Hsich: 'Nothing about her case was easy.'

Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Dr. Eileen Hsich was on the team of physicians who worked on Schroeder-Herrmann's case. Hsich is medical director for the heart transplant program and a staff physician at the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute. They met in 2020.

"She was one of the most mature people I've ever met. Nothing about her case was easy," Hsich said, adding that without the transplant, Schroeder-Herrmann likely would have died.

"She really never had good blood pressure; it was always low," Hsich said. "We need blood pressure to get blood to our organs. So, one of the worst things about taking care of her was that she couldn't tolerate most medications, even simple things like water pills because our blood (contains) water in addition to blood."

Hsich said a typically normal systolic blood pressure is 120. Schroeder-Herrmann's was 80.

"She was in trouble," she said. "We always knew she needed a heart transplant, but we also knew she might not survive the operation. In order to do her operation, we had to plan out her surgery because it was a very challenging case that required a lot of planning. It wasn't just fixing the heart; she had all these blockages in her body, and vessels can clog off. We couldn't use the vessels which most patients use in heart transplants."

Hsich said factors for a potential donor match include blood type, and height and weight. The body-mass index must be 19 or above.

"Many congenital patients have stunted growth," she noted. "She knew she would be removed from the list if she fell short of a BMI of 19."

She was placed on the transplant list in 2021.

The National Institutes of Health reports that about 2,000 heart transplants are performed in the U.S. each year, a number which has remained steady due to a dearth of donors.

Hsich wanted to avoid doing the surgery during the height of the COVID pandemic because of the restrictions in place. Schroeder-Herrmann also had to listen to her body about when it was the right time.

"You don't want to do it too soon and you don't want to do it too late," Schroeder-Herrmann said. "If you do it when you're super, super sick and you're in the ICU, your body's going to have a harder time recovering. If you do it too soon, maybe you had a year left, so to say, that you could have used your native heart. So, it was really kind of a magical time to find it."

While waiting, Schroeder-Herrmann graduated from Kent State University in 2022.

'My goal was to get through college, but I also wanted to get that heart.'

"My goal was to get through college, but I also wanted to get that heart," she said. "So it was a kind of a double- edged sword. So, I pushed through and graduated in May in child and youth development. I graduated at end of May and was admitted (to the hospital on) June 20."

By being admitted, it meant that Schroeder-Herrmann was given a higher status on the transplant list.

"But it also meant that you're not leaving until you get that heart, or if you're sick enough, then you can't get a heart," she said. "I waited 35 days, and that 30-day mark was one of the harder ones. There are some patients who wait six months. I was lucky enough to wait only 35 days, but it was so tough."

A member of Church of the Lakes Global Methodist, Schroeder-Herrmann said the experience has deepened her faith. Shortly before the transplant, her future father-in-law, Rich Herrmann, took a photo of a double rainbow while at the Cleveland Clinic.

"We were all kind of exhausted; I was snapping at people," she admits. "And just seeing that rainbow just kind of gave us hope that something was coming."

'We knew that someone was losing a loved one.'

Immediately after receiving the news of a heart being available, Schroeder-Herrmann and her family called others and asked them to pray for the donor family.

"We knew that someone was losing a loved one, that someone was losing a child," she said.

The Rev. Bryan George, senior pastor at Church of the Lakes Global Methodist in Jackson Township, has known Schroeder-Herrmann since she was born. He's been with the family through many of her surgeries.

"That was a very tangible answer to prayer," he said. "While Katherine’s original heart was physically damaged with missing valves, holes and coarctation of the aorta, her 'real heart' is marked by dogged determination, extraordinary compassion towards children in need, and a deep abiding faith that carried her in some very challenging days."

Her church held a 24-hour prayer vigil.

The four-hour surgery took place on July 25, 2022. The rest of the surgical team included Drs. Michael Zhen-Yu Tong, Hani Najm, Lee Kirksey, Sean Lyden, Robert Stewart and Gerald Boyle.

She noted that one of the physicians assisting is the son of her pediatric cardiologist at Akron Children's.

"It was a very full-circle moment, and I remember saying to him, 'Thank you,'" she said. "I wouldn't have made it to the transplant without the medical advancements and the doctors who got me there. With all the different issues I had, I shouldn't have survived half the time, and I'm grateful."

Schroeder-Herrmann gets married

Schroeder-Herrmann and her husband, Ian, were married on May 20, opting to wait until after her transplant.

"Everything worked perfectly," she said. "But we knew I might not wake up."

She called the wedding a "celebration of life" and danced all night.

The young couple met at Kent State in 2018. Ian Herrmann graduated with a degree in sports broadcasting and calls high school football games for Q92 WDJQ-FM in addition to working a second job.

"He has been my strength on the toughest days and my biggest supporter to achieve my dreams," she said.

'It's not just you anymore that's in your body.'

On June 24, Schroeder-Herrmann, her mother and her older brother, Grant, traveled to West Virginia to meet the family of her donor, a 39-year-old woman named Desiree Burge.

"It was very surreal and humbling," she said. "Her dad (Darrell Conner) told he saw some similarities. They told me she was a very generous person. He told me she was the person who would take her coat off her back and give it to someone else."

When Burge got her driver's license at 16, she listed herself as an organ donor; five were donated to others.

Schroeder-Herrmann learned that her donor also had a sense of humor.

"While many people would simply want to move on with their life after having this gift and put it all in the rearview mirror, Katherine was determined to share her gratitude with the donor family," Rev. George noted. "While Katherine would be able to celebrate a new lease on life, she was keenly aware that another family was mourning their daughter. This speaks volumes for her character."

The experience, Schroeder-Herrmann said, has changed how she regards herself.

"There's this sense of there is a new literal being inside of you," she said. "It's not just you anymore that's in your body, there's just an emotional difference as well as spiritual, that this isn't just me anymore."

She experiences life like never before

Noting that her family compiled a picture book of her experience, Schroeder-Herrmann said she's experiencing life in ways unthinkable before her surgery.

The day before her visit to West Virginia, she successfully "ran/walked" a 5K at the "Night Glow" Ohio Challenge Series held at Jackson High School.

"I've reminded a lot of people that for a typical transplant patient, they're going back to a normal that they had, but I've had the heart being sick from the moment I was born," she said.

"It's been a whole new world for me. I went to the doctor the other week and was like, 'My ankles are swollen' and she said, 'Well, what did you do?' Well, I was D.C. with my brother for my birthday weekend and we were walking around. She said, 'Well, you were walking. Your ankles are going to get swollen if you're on your feet all day,' and I'm like, 'Oh.' It's things I'm experiencing that are normal, but I don't think are normal because I never got to experience them."

Today, Schroeder-Herrmann works as a part-time dispatcher for CenCom in Nimishillen Township while studying to become a pediatric counselor.

"After the transplant, I set my sights on getting healthy and not having rejection first and foremost," she said. "After that it was getting married, something I thought I would never live to see. Obtaining a part-time job, going back to school full time, and of course, the 5K were all major achievements. Future goals include traveling with my husband and family to explore new places. I also hope to graduate school and work with pediatric patients. I also would love to do another 5K."

Schroeder-Herrmann was asked what advice she would give to others facing treatment for a significant medical issue.

"Advocate for yourself," she replied. "Build resilience. You have to fight for yourself. I've met a lot of patients who maybe don't know the meds they take, or don't know their condition or don't advocate for themselves with doctors. My doctors tell me all the time that 'We can do some of the work, but the patient has to have the will to fight and take take their meds and do what they need to do to survive.'"

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County native recipient of heart transplant at Cleveland Clinic