North Texas mother hopes 14-year journey with rare heart disease inspires others

DALLAS -  A North Texas mother diagnosed with a rare heart disease at 22 years old has been on a 14-year journey of faith and hope.

Destany's Diagnosis

Destany Epps-Manuel

The backstory:

In October 2010, Destany Epps-Manuel was only 22 years old when she was suddenly diagnosed with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart disease affecting the left side of her heart. 

"I have a 16-year-old. At the time I was diagnosed, he was two and a half and I looked in his face and I knew I had to be here to be a mom if nothing else," Epps-Manuel recalled.

Doctors at Baylor Scott & White in Dallas did not understand why exactly in Epps-Manuel’s heart was not working well as she underwent her first heart transplant for an artificial heart and placed on an Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD). 

As complications developed, Epps-Manuel was placed on a second LVAD machine, but the drugs to assist Epps-Manuel’s new heart ravaged her kidney. 

She had to undergo a kidney transplant. This followed more complications for Epps-Manuel, this time, on the right side of her heart.

"I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. My blood pressure plummeted. I was very, very sick," she recalled.

Doctors told Epps-Manuel her only chance was lifesaving treatment at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. 

Tyler Gunn, Assistant Professor of Cardiac Surgery and heart-transplant doctor at Cedars-Sinai, understood this would be Epps-Manuel’s fourth heart surgery and second transplant. This time, it required a operation lasting over 10 hours.

"Part of the issues that complicated her case was that with each heart surgery she developed antibodies that potentially reject her new heart," Gunn said. "So, we had to do some aggressive therapies that are available to ger her desensitized to be able to have a low likelihood of rejecting this new heart."

Faith in Perseverance

What they're saying:

Epps-Manuel’s strength and perseverance are aided by her father, Oscar Epps, who is a Pastor at Community Missionary Baptist Church in DeSoto. 

"I had to put my faith in a pitcher, where people could see that I'm not just talking about it. I now have to live it because of our own circumstances." Epps said.
 

Her circumstances give others a testimony about hope. 

"Never wallow in your sadness. Always find something to keep you going, whether it’s for you, for your family, or to uplift others in Christ. Whatever that reason is, just make sure you find a reason to keep pushing," Epps-Manuel said.