For Chevonne Dixon, of Freeport, this Mother’s Day carries extra special meaning.
On Mother’s Day last year – May 12 – she was in the operating room at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan undergoing a heart transplant, a procedure that gave her the chance to continue to live and be the mother to her two teenage children, Khalani and Tahlen.
Now, at age 40, Dixon is thriving.
She’s riding a bicycle for the first time in years, walking miles a day, and getting ready to join the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk in Central Park on May 17.
Her journey, she said, has been marked by the constant need for faith and patient endurance.
“I was a freshman in college, just starting out my adulthood, and had a lot of plans,” Dixon recalled. “I was in school to become a nurse, and I just went in for a regular physical. And I was, I was shocked at the news that something was wrong with my heart.”
Diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse — a condition in which the mitrial valve is unable to properly close when the heart contracts — at age 19, she underwent open-heart surgery within the week.
Though she eventually returned to a semblance of a normal life — getting married, having children and beginning a career — her heart troubles resurfaced years later in the form of ventricular tachycardia, an overly fast heart rhythm which originates in the ventricals; atrial fibrillation, a problem where the heart’s upper chambers beat too fast and irregularly; and, eventually, full-fledged heart failure.
In 2019, after having undergone four open-heart surgeries, doctors placed her on the transplant list, where she waited more than four years, including three false-alarm calls, before finally receiving her new heart on Mother’s Day in 2024.
Dr. Maya Barghash, Dixon’s transplant cardiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital, explained that several factors made her heart transplant more complicated. As a young woman of color, she was at higher risk of having an overly active immune system — a condition that makes it more difficult to find a compatible donor and increases the likelihood that her body might reject the new heart after surgery.
Indeed, Dixon experienced a serious episode of rejection just a few months after her surgery.
“She developed difficulty with fatigue and shortness of breath, which are some symptoms of rejection,” Barghash said.
Dixon was hospitalized and treated with powerful immunosuppressant medications to reduce the antibodies her body was producing and prevent further damage to her new heart.
“Now she’s doing really well,” Barghash said. “Even though she did have that setback, she’s feeling great and really able to enjoy her life and her family, which we’re very grateful for.”
The decision was made to move forward with a heart transplant when it became clear that her condition had reached advanced heart failure.
Now, Dixon, who had been dealing with looming heart problems for around 20 years, is celebrating the gift of life.
“I didn’t want to be in the hospital setting, I didn’t want to be around patients,” she said, explaining why she chose not to pursue her nursing studies. “It really changed the trajectory of my life.”
Dixon went back to school after recovering from her first surgery, graduating with a degree in Business Administration from Long Island University in 2005, and now has been working with National Grid for 15 years, with her current title being that of Senior Program Manager.
“I went back to work in September after Labor Day when my kids started college and high school and I’ve been working,” she said. “I rode my bike for the first time last week. Walking a lot. I did some light jogging the other day. So I am really (doing) good.”
Dixon also began publicly sharing her heart journey online in 2016 to help inspire others facing similar health challenges, resulting in her garnering 197,000 followers on Instagram, where she can be found under the handle @thiswellplannedlife.
She posted on May 6 that her “1-year biopsy and echo results came back positive,” and that she can “now approach Mother’s with peace of mind” and focus on celebrating her “heartiversary” next week.
“A lot of people reached out to me and told me how much I motivated them because they were going through critical illnesses,” she said. “So one thing I always tell everyone with everything that I’m going through, I always say that you can’t choose the hand that you’re dealt with. You just have to learn to work with the hand that you are dealt with.”
She’s planning her first full family vacation in years and hopes to inspire others by actively participating in the Heart Walk.
“This is like a testament of how far I’ve come and what my new life is like,” she said. “And also to raise awareness about heart disease.”
Dixon has written a letter to the donor’s family, a heartfelt message of gratitude that she hopes to send soon.
“I keep my donor in my heart every day,” she said.