CHICAGO — When Shawntae Brewer was 13 years old, she didn’t know her health was at risk. As the Chicago resident recalls, she was more focused on passing her gym softball test than her pervasive cough. Fortunately, Brewer’s mother decided that the sounds of her daughter’s cough and her persistence meant she needed to go to the hospital.
“She said her cough was a combination of a smoker’s cough. Imagine a 13-year-old girl with a bad cough,” said Brewer, now 36. . I have never taken that softball test. The moment I walked into the emergency room, I thought the triage would check everything and tell me it was okay to go home if it was just a cold. ”
However, when shown an X-ray, her heart was on either side of her chest. Brewer was so swollen that her heart was struggling to beat, she said.
“I thank God for my mother,” Brewer said.
She remembers how mouth breathing while running led doctors to the root cause of the problem. She had myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. Brewer’s cardiologist, Dr. William Kotz, medical director of advanced heart failure and heart transplants at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said Brewer’s symptoms were caused by a virus. Her body may have attacked her heart while the virus was attacking.
“In many cases, it will subside on its own, it will get better, and people’s minds will return to normal and they will feel better,” he said. “And in some patients, their heart deteriorates over time.”
Mr. Brewer took medication to stay healthy and lived his life to the best of his ability. He traveled, became an educator, and at age 19 registered to be an organ donor, a process he didn’t realize one day would take him to the other side of the world.
Brewer contracted the coronavirus upon returning from a trip to South Africa with a layover in Amsterdam. And while she and her heart got through it, Brewer said her mood changed after that. From that point on, she had no energy to do anything. She lost a lot of weight and could no longer keep her diet in check. She went to the hospital thinking she had another stomach problem.
“Lo and behold, it turned out to be what my heart was saying, ‘You fought the good fight, it’s time to retire,'” Brewer said. She was admitted to Christ Medical Center and received her new heart less than a week later, on February 12, 2023. She was hospitalized for six weeks.
Brewer celebrated the first anniversary of his heart transplant in February, which is American Heart Month, by traveling to Wisconsin Dells to celebrate with friends and family. She had become accustomed to living with her heart functioning in decline for most of her life and accepted the fact that she might not live into her 80s or 90s like her family.
“Now that I have the transplant, I feel like I want to be here until I’m 90 years old. I can be here with the rest of my family,” she said. Ms. Brewer is committed to sharing her experience as a transplant recipient with the world, including elementary school students.
As the founder and executive director of vision outreachIt’s an initiative that brings her into the classroom to teach STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math), urban agriculture, and social-emotional learning, and she’s been working on her health since founding the organization in 2012. We discuss the science behind the condition. Currently, she teaches elementary school students at the Cambridge Classical Academy in the Grand Her Boulevard neighborhood.
Brewer said she accepts calf hearts and lungs from a butcher shop so students can perform fake surgeries. When students ask questions about her surgical scars or watch the 36-year-old use her cane, Brewer turns their questions into teachable moments about science, biology and healthy lifestyles. I’ll change it. She aims to pass on her knowledge as well as wisdom so that it spreads further, changing the way the black community is viewed and making people healthier and happier.
“I talk about their diet and nutrition,” she said. “I’ve always been a tech-savvy person. Here I’ve included science related not only to space but also to health. Students who have seen me over the past two years know that I am a PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) ) I saw you come to school with a line. So they literally saw the progression of my health condition and I told them to remember: Have you ever heard me talk about anything other than positive? I always keep a positive mindset.”
Kotz said that mindset has led Brewer to his current position.
When the pandemic began, she turned to urban farming, growing sunflowers, tomatoes, more than a dozen varieties of the world’s spiciest peppers, kale, spinach, collard greens, cabbage, and lettuce. This year, Brewer is focusing on leafy greens.
“You almost never eat salad unless you grow it yourself,” she said. “I don’t use any pesticides. I’m a 100% organic farmer.”
Brewer is proud to be the mother of nine chickens on her farm. She has her own channel where her various “How to Grow” videos are distributed. tick tock and YouTube Under the name ChiFarmerBae. She hosts virtual field trips for students, showing how she grows everything and introducing her to “baby chicks.”
She has also been known to play the role of a teaching assistant by taking her baby chicks to school and letting them sit on her shoulders or sit on her desk. “When the class gets noisy, the chickens tend to cluck to calm the class down,” she said.
Just this week, one of her chicks laid an egg during a 2nd and 3rd grade class. Mr. Brewer also has a chicken named Transplant. Because when she came out of her shell, she had small white feathers on the front of her chest.
Over the next five years, Brewer, an Illinois State University graduate, plans to expand his farm, add more community gardens, and develop youth in a holistic way, hoping to have a child of his own, preferably a boy. I envision growing it.
“To be honest, I don’t look like a typical heart transplant patient,” Brewer says. “Normally when you hear of heart transplant, you’re talking about someone who is past childbearing age. The main focus of the drugs is obviously to preserve life because their immune system is compromised, and to prevent pregnancy. It’s not supportive. Dr. Kotz has known me for years. …After the transplant, maybe two weeks later, I said, “We’re having a baby.” Dr. Kotz said, “You guys don’t know about Shaunte.” If she says she’ll do it, she’ll do it. ”
“Tomorrow is not promised. …If there’s one thing I want people to take away from my story, it’s to live life to the fullest and always act with compassion on your journey.” ,” Brewer said.
Although Brewer will continue to take medication for the rest of his life, the risk of heart transplant rejection or infection often decreases over time, Kotz said. The first year is when the most harmful events can occur and people need to be monitored most closely, he said.
Because risk factors for heart failure include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, history of valve abnormalities, congenital heart disease, and coronary artery disease, there are many things health care professionals can do to prevent heart failure and address risk factors. said Kotz.
“Everyone needs to see their doctor regularly and if they have any of these risk factors, they need to make sure they are being addressed,” Kotz said. “Another thing to keep track of is your symptoms. If you have symptoms such as shortness of breath, decreased exercise capacity, increased fatigue, or difficulty sleeping, some of these symptoms may indicate the presence of heart failure. Yes. The presence of chest pain or tightness is a very important symptom. It’s important to know what risk factors you have, what diseases can lead to heart failure, and to discuss it with your health care provider. It starts with addressing them as soon as possible.”
