After 20 Years of Heart Failure, a Mother of Two Celebrates a Life-Saving Heart Transplant on Mother’s Day

When Chevonne Dixon was only 19 years old, a routine physical for her college revealed heart murmurs. Further tests led to a diagnosis of mitral valve regurgitation, a condition where the valve between the left heart chambers functions abnormally. Chevonne’s valve needed to be replaced immediately: a week later, she underwent open-heart surgery.

“I was a freshman in college, just starting out my adulthood, and had a lot of plans,” Charlene told The Long Island Herald. “I was in school to become a nurse, and I just went in for a regular physical. I was shocked at the news that something was wrong with my heart.”

She was also diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a condition that affects the heart muscle and can eventually lead to heart failure. Despite her young age, Chevonne’s heart function was at 30 percent. Doctors were able to manage the condition with medications, and she went on to get married and have two children—a boy and a girl—without any complications. However, it was a matter of time before further issues with her heart emerged.

In 2016, after almost passing out at work, Chevonne went to an Emergency Department and was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia. This is a dangerous condition where the ventricles (the heart's lower chambers) beat too fast and irregularly. She was referred to Vivek Reddy, MD, Director of The Helmsley Center for Electrophysiology at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Reddy recommended a procedure in which a defibrillator was implanted to treat ventricular tachycardia if it were to recur. The procedure took place in October and successfully stabilized her condition.

A collaborative team of specialists

However, by May 2018, Chevonne required further surgery, this time to re-replace her mitral valve prothesis. Due to the poor condition of her heart, there was a high level of risk involved with the procedure. It was carried out by David H. Adams, MD, Cardiac Surgeon-in-Chief of the Mount Sinai Health System.

“Our team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, intensive care specialists, and heart function doctors work collaboratively to give each patient like Chevonne the best possible chance of a successful outcome,” Dr. Adams says.

After successful valve re-replacement, Chevonne was monitored by Mount Sinai’s specialist heart failure and transplantation team. She was put on a program of guideline-directed medical therapy to help improve the heart size and function and to help with her symptoms. It looked likely that she would eventually need to be considered for a heart transplant, and by 2019, after undergoing extensive testing, she was added to the heart transplantation list.

The next challenge faced by Chevonne was a long wait for a suitable heart to become available. During that time, she was constantly tired, unable to eat and severely limited in how much she could participate in family life.

“I couldn’t do things like walking and going up and down stairs without feeling very fatigued. I couldn’t clean the house or do the laundry, so my husband had to take over those tasks. If we went on vacation, I wasn’t able to join in excursions or sightseeing,” Chevonne says.

To help to deal with her physical limitations, she focused on relaxation and therapeutic activities.

“I liked to paint and do gardening. My husband did the laborious part, and I would plant the flowers and water them,” Chevonne says. “We would go for drives, and take a blanket to the beach and watch the sun set. And journaling really helped me cope a lot, because I got everything out of my head that was bottled up inside. I'm still very big on journaling now.”

Maya Barghash, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology specialist, and the Associate Medical Director of the Adult Heart Transplant program at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, has been looking after Chevonne since 2019. She explains why the process for her to receive a donor heart took time.

New life after heart transplant

“Patients with heart failure who are in critical condition, requiring support devices for the heart, and who remain hospitalized are given a higher status on the transplant list,” Dr. Barghash says. “Chevonne was able to be at home on medication that was stabilizing her heart. She also was allosensitized, a process where the immune system is very active and produces antibodies that can affect the time it takes to find a compatible donor heart match, as well as increasing the risk of the body rejecting a new heart. It is common among younger patients who have had prior surgeries or transfusions and women who have had children, and it reduces the number of potential heart donors available to the patient.”

Chevonne finally got the call on Mother's Day, May 12, 2024, and underwent the procedure at The Mount Sinai Hospital the next day. The surgery was undertaken by Anelechi Anyanwu, MD, Vice Chair and Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine, and a renowned specialist in heart transplantation.

The surgery went smoothly, and she made a good enough recovery to go home after just two weeks.

However, she still faced some obstacles on her journey to full recovery. Just days after being discharged, she started to have seizures. These were caused by a neurological condition thought to be related to her medications. Chevonne was immediately admitted to The Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was intubated and treated for the seizures. Her medications were adjusted, and she was able to return home after 10 days. About a month later, Chevonne started to experience fatigue and shortness of breath—symptoms of the new heart being rejected. She returned to hospital to receive medications to treat her rejection episode.

“Rejection is common after heart transplant, especially in the first six to 12 months,” Dr. Barghash says. “Chevonne was treated with steroids and IV medications to help lower her immune system's activity. And with that, her heart function improved slowly and normalized again.”

A walk with her ‘medical family’

Chevonne returned home after six days and was able to return to work a few months later, after Labor Day. She has been making steady progress ever since and was able to fully enjoy Mother’s Day on May 11, 2025 and to celebrate her “heart anniversary.” “My husband surprised me with a cake, and our family came over with food and flowers—and they had custom made T-shirts with my picture on them.”

To help inspire others, Chevonne participated in the 2025 Wall Street Run & Heart Walk in May. “When I found out about the walk, I said, ‘I'm definitely going to participate in this one.’ I wasn't able to do a lot of physical activities prior to my transplant, and with now having a fully functioning heart, I had the energy to do it. And I want to help to raise awareness about heart disease and to help to motivate people to become organ donors,” Chevonne says.

She was joined at the event by Dr. Barghash. “It was amazing. It was very heartwarming, because I got to walk with Dr. Barghash, and I saw a lot of nurses and doctors who cared for me when I was in the hospital—that was really special,” Chevonne says.

“Chevonne is an incredible individual,” Dr. Barghash says. “At such a young age, she had to face so much chronic and severe illness, and was also working full time, being a wife and a mother to two children. She experienced 20 years of heart failure, then finally, the third surgery for her heart transplant and going through all the complications that she had, I think she's truly remarkable, and she's such an inspiration to all of us. We want her to know that we are her medical family and are with her throughout every step. We're just so happy for her and her family.”