PEORIA, Ariz. — Three Peoria kids may be happy and healthy today, but that came after many months of fighting a rare illness that required all three siblings to receive heart transplants.
By watching Isabel, Jason and Jaxon Siqueiros play in their backyard, no one would have any idea of the ordeals the three have been through over the past 18 months.
“What these siblings have is something called Restrictive Cardio Myopathy,” said Dr. Roosevelt Bryant III, the surgical director of transplant program at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
Bryant knows the cases well: He operated on all three children.
“Of all the types of Myopathies that we see and treat, for heart failure, this is the rarest," Bryant said.
For a hospital to encounter one case of Restrictive Cardio Myopathy is like finding a white tiger in the wild, Bryant explained. To have three cases in one family is unheard of.
“I think, looking at the positive, they all have each other to go through it together,” explained Sara Siqueiros, mom to the three children.
“They’re so proud of their scars. It’s normal to them.”
Sara and her husband, Jason, have a very positive outlook on the situation. It’s an outlook that was born of necessity.
“I didn’t want them to get discouraged. I couldn’t let myself get discouraged,” Sara said. “Hope had to be there for all three of them to make it through.”
Both Bryant and the Siqueiros praise the families who made the decision to give the gift of life.
“I am an organ donor and I think it is critical,” said Dr. Bryant.
“That’s three separate families that chose to save my family,” said Sara, fighting back tears.
“You can save families like ours and give people a second chance at life.”
For more information on becoming an organ donor, visit Donate Life Arizona.
