Cheyenne Tallmon
In 2022 at age 26, Cheyenne Tallmon found out she was pregnant. She was working two jobs at the time. Cheyenne and her now husband Kyle decided to get a puppy, so in a snow blizzard Cheyenne drove to Idaho to pick up the pup. It was during this road trip that she noticed symptoms such as swelling, which required her to take rest stops.
At her baby shower in January, when she was around 29 weeks, she noticed her swelling was significant. Cheyenne went to see her OB, but her symptoms were shrugged off as pregnancy related. The following week, Cheyenne’s blood pressure began to rise, and she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Insulin injections were required along with frequent weigh-ins. She had gained 25 lbs in one week yet she wasn’t able to eat and was stuck in bed. Another visit to the OB told her the same, that these were normal pregnancy-related woes. Cheyenne continued to suffer and was forced to take maternity leave early as she was bedridden and unable to walk around. With her blood sugars severely low, she went to her OB again for the third visit in three weeks. A preeclampsia test was negative, so she was told she was fine, and the doctor refused to see her.
On February 10, Cheyenne went to her primary care and was seen by a new physician, who was unable to get a blood pressure reading. She was instructed to take an ambulance to the hospital, but Cheyenne decided to drive herself home. Although she has no memory of driving, Cheyenne called Kyle from the driveway, he raced home to find her stuck in the driver seat; he couldn't get her out. Kyle moved Cheyenne over and drove her to the hospital in 25 minutes, which normally is a 45-minute drive.
In the birthing center triage room at the hospital, Cheyenne was monitored for two hours. The vein in her neck was pumping so hard it made her head twitch, her stomach was tightening, and they were struggling to get her blood pressure. She was told it was just Braxton Hix contractions she experienced in the last three weeks, and they were preparing to discharge her when at the two-hour mark, Cheyenne’s heart rate spiked to over 160 and the fetal heart rate couldn’t be detected.
A code blue went off, a Chaplin came in, and an emergent C-Section was called for. As soon as Charlotte was out, Cheyenne’s heart stopped. CPR was performed on her for 15 minutes until she was revived. She was transported by Life Flight to Portland, Oregon. Kyle didn’t know what would happen to neither his wife nor his newborn daughter. He went with Cheyenne, while Charlotte was rushed to the NICU. When Cheyenne arrived at the hospital she coded again. Medical staff stabilized Cheyenne enough to go into surgery and then implanted the Impella 5.5 heart pump and the Impella RP Flex. She was intubated for 9 days. She hadn’t realized she had delivered Charlotte, not recalling anything from January 29th until February 10th. She was confused and couldn’t talk, but they told her Charlotte was ok, and that she would be ok. She was able to FaceTime and whisper to her newborn daughter.
Physicians removed the Impella RP Flex after tests revealed her heart function had slightly improved. Cheyenne received the news that was told her heart wouldn’t recover and that she would be listed for a heart transplant. Cheyenne was determined to get home to her baby and refused to sit in a chair per the request of the physical therapist, instead insisting on walking after three weeks of being bedridden. The PT gave her a walker, and she walked back and forth in the hospital room. By the end of the week, she was doing laps around the unit. Cheyenne then insisted on going further and would walk to Starbucks each day.
Charlotte was discharged at 22 days, and Cheyenne met her daughter on day 23. She would visit twice a week, staying for sleepovers and allowing for Cheyene to do her feedings. Also during this time, Cheyenne and Kyle became engaged.
“Someone has it worse than I do” was her mindset that kept her going. She was hospitalized for 102 days, spending 96 of those days in the ICU.
Cheyenne had to endure a lot of testing to be on the transplant list. She received the results confirming that she had peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) and that she had a mass on her liver, causing her to be removed from the list. After some more complications, Cheyenne was eventually re-listed on the transplant list a week later, once it was confirmed her liver would recover. On May 5, 2023, Cheyenne received her new heart and her new journey began.
“This is an experience no one wants to go through. I’m grateful I went through it because I came out much stronger. The community and the connections I have made with other heart transplant friends are close and easy to relate to. And It’s a miracle to raise my daughter.”
“We will share our story with Charlotte, so she knows she isa fighter and that I fought as hard as I could.”
