Heart transplant gives UNMC nursing student new life

At age 18, Lorissa Roepke was running 5Ks and getting ready to start college at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

But a couple of weeks before starting college, she started having problems walking to her new job on campus. She started to feel dizzy, out of breath and would have to sit on the sidewalk and wait until she could see again normally.

Roepke, now a student at the UNMC College of Nursing Northern Division in Norfolk, had never had health problems. A Kearney cardiologist did some tests and, because of her age, referred her to Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha. A cardiac MRI revealed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It was November 2013.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a common cause of sudden cardiac arrest in young people, including young athletes, according to the American Heart Association. It prevents the heart from pumping blood correctly.

Months later, three days of testing revealed heart failure requiring emergency surgery to insert a cardioverter defibrillator to prevent sudden cardiac arrest.

“Growing up, I was always active. I imagined myself as a parent and being able to play with my kids,” Roepke said. “But after diagnosis, there was a chance I might not wake up the next day. I was on medications that my grandma was taking. Looking back, it was extremely hard to go through. I went through the five stages of grief.”

She was put on the heart transplant list.

“I became very hopeless because I thought I had everything taken away from me,” she said.

In October 2014, she received a transplant.

“After the transplant I became hopeful because I was getting a second chance at life and a chance to be active.”

She changed her mind about being a teacher.

“I knew that I wanted to be a nurse. It was all the care I received and how much they influenced and helped my recovery,” Roepke said. “It was incredible to go through that experience and I want to be able to give back to the world and help others go through transplants.”

Roepke, now 22, is physically active again. Within six months of being post-transplant she ran a 5K. A year afterward, she competed in the Transplant Games of America in Cleveland, Ohio.

“It’s amazing all of the opportunities I’ve been given,” Roepke said. “There’s so much good that has come out of it. I’m thankful to my donor and transplant team.”