Heart transplant story shared with CCS students

February is American Heart Month, an ideal time for Americans to focus on heart-health awareness.
It is particularly significant for Randy Jablonski of Imperial who received a new heart in March 2016.
Last week, Jablonski told his heart transplant story to Chase County Schools (CCS) second graders.
Kim Spady, CCS second grade teacher, said they had been studying the science of the human body.
She contacted Jablonski and asked him to come talk to the students about his experience.
His story
A number of years ago, Jablonski was diagnosed with a condition called atrial fibrillation (Afib or AF).
Afib is an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.
“Doctors tried shocking my heart back into a normal rhythm, but it wasn’t as successful as they had hoped,” Jablonski said.
He was getting tired easily and couldn’t walk 100 yards without getting winded, he said.
Over time, the condition began to wear on his health and his ability to function during routine daily activities.
The next step was to have an ablation performed, Jablonski said.
Atrial fibrillation ablation is a procedure that uses radio frequency energy (similar to microwave heat) to destroy a small area of heart tissue that is causing rapid or irregular heartbeats.
Destroying this tissue helps restore the heart’s regular rhythm.
“It helped for about three and a half years,” said Jablonski. “But in December 2015, I began feeling bad again, so my cardiologist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha tried administering medication through a port in my right arm.”

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