Kare11
Two sisters, two heart transplants and one life-saving message
After Tracie Vandenburgh received a heart transplant, she sought to find out why. Nine years later, her sister is grateful she did.
MINNEAPOLIS — For more than a month now, Lori Koch has relied on the love and support of a team of family members and medical staff at M Health University of Minnesota Hospital to help her through a holiday season plagued by heart failure.
“She has been here since before Thanksgiving,” said Koch’s daughter, Caitlin Hennen. “But Christmas did come early.”
On December 13 Koch finally received the life-changing gift she had been hoping and praying for.
“Right after she got that call, she called me at 12:04 a.m.,” Hennen said. “She said we have a heart… I was immediately in tears.”
Koch’s older sister, Tracie Vandenburgh, cried tears of joy as well, just as she had done nine years prior.
“I remember when I got my call,” said Vandenburgh, who received her own heart transplant on August 7th, 2014. “My first thought was of the other family because you never forget how you got your chance at life.”
Before that moment, Vandenburgh had spent a lot of her life wondering how long her heart – and life – might last.
“Our father died at 46,” she said. “His parents died young also. My dad’s brothers all had heart issues and most of them died at a young age as well. So when I turned 40 I wanted a full cardiac workup and I had a hard time finding a doctor to take me seriously, because I didn’t have any issues and I didn’t appear sick.”
The response of her doctors shifted several years later, during a cardiac stress test.
“The door to the room flew open,” Vandenburgh said. “They hit the red stop button, they made me sit down and they said, ‘Are you all right?’ I said, ‘Yes, I’m fine.’ They said, ‘No you’re not.'”
Vandenburgh says doctors discovered that her heartbeat was so erratic that she needed an implantable defibrillator. Then, in 2014, she grew so sick that she was admitted to M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Hospital, where she remained until receiving her transplant three months later.
“I think it’s incredibly important that Tracie advocated for herself, knowing her family history,” said Dr. Forum Kamdar, a transplant cardiologist for M Health Fairview.
Dr. Kamdar is part of the M Health team that performed both Tracie and Lori’s transplants.
“They were at the same hospital, same team, nine years apart,” Hennen said.
And in the time between those surgeries, the team also investigated what led to their family history.
“A lot of patients when they get diagnosed with heart failure, are misclassified,” said Meg Fraser, a transplant nurse practitioner for M Health Fairview. “We see a lot of patients who are told their heart condition is due to their pregnancy, or their high blood pressure, or something else, when it’s really genetic.”
After undergoing genetic counseling, the sisters learned that they had inherited a gene mutation called LMNA from their father.
“This mutation, specifically, causes a very significant type of heart failure,” Dr. Kamdar said. “Early screening is very important to be able to catch changes in heart function or abnormal rhythms at an early stage.”
Since then, the rest of the family has undergone testing and early screening as well.
“It is hard because it is genetic and my children have been tested, and I do have a daughter who has the marker,” Vandenburgh said. “She will most likely, somewhere in her lifetime, need a heart transplant… and that is terrifying.”
But if that day comes, Vandenburgh knows her daughter will be in good hands.
“Do you have anything you want to say?” Hennen asked her mother during a recent visit to the ICU.
“That it’s the best program ever,” Koch said. “I’m very lucky.”
Lucky for the care, the support, and the early Christmas gift from a stranger.
“If it weren’t for them my kids wouldn’t have a grandma,” Hennen said. “I wouldn’t have my mom.”
“It’s the ultimate gift,” Vandenburgh said.
On Thursday, Hennen says her Mom was able to move out of the ICU and into a room where she could finally reconnect with some of her grandkids. She won’t be discharged any time soon but says it will be a very Merry Christmas.
Family gatherings during the holidays provide an opportunity to discuss important health-related wishes and to share important family medical histories that could save lives. Here are three resources if you’re interested in discussing three key topics.
How to talk about organ donation wishes with family:
How to begin discussing – and compiling – a helpful family medical history:
How to learn more about genetic counseling:
Watch all of the latest stories from Breaking The News in our YouTube playlist:
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Maturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department “failed” after a man was shot, allegedly by his neighbor in the city.
“We failed this victim. 100%, because that should not have happened to him,” said O’Hara in a Sunday evening press conference.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Moturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
Sawchak was charged with shooting Moturi as he was pruning a tree on his front yard on Oct. 23.
Moturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion.
O’Hara and the MPD came under a heavy attack from the Minneapolis City Council after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had charged Sawchak, but the MPD had not arrested him.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
“We failed to act urgently enough,” said O’Hara, before citing staffing concerns as a contributing factor.
It was a stark difference from the tone the chief initially took on Friday, then saying “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally ill person’.”
On Sunday, O’Hara said his previous comments were meant as a response to accusations that the MPD “didn’t care,” about the case.
“This is the result of over-politicizing policing in Minneapolis,” said O’Hara.
O’Hara stated that the MPD will, for the moment, continue waiting for Sawchak to exit his home to arrest him, but the chief added “We are running out of options before we have to escalate the matter.”
The heated back-and-forth between the city council and the chief continued earlier Sunday when Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski released a statement questioning O’Hara and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey actions in the matter.
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” said Koski in the statement.
Cities across Minnesota expanded voting hours and locations for the upcoming presidential election.
MINNEAPOLIS — Expanded early voting hours and locations are giving Minnesotans more opportunities to cast their ballots before the general election.
Over 1,000 people visited Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services over the weekend to make their voice heard.
“We have always voted as a family. We have this right as Americans to vote, and we wanted him to know right from the get-go that you’ve got to vote in every single election because this is our voice, this is our opportunity to really pick the future that we want based on the candidate that we vote for,” said Kelly Wallander.
Kelly and her husband, Claude, picked up their son Harrison from college, so they could all vote in the general election for the first time as a family.
“It’s interesting. It’s cool to see elections on TV, basically as long as I can remember, and now know that I’m a part of it and being able to vote with my parents is cool,” Harrison said.
“I like voting early just because exactly you miss the line and you get it in there,” Claude said.
Director of Elections and Voter Services for the City of Minneapolis Katie Smith said the past two days have been busy.
“We’ve had really solid turnout. We’ve had about 42,000 people who have already voted in this election,” she said.
She anticipates next weekend will be even busier.
“Every year we kind of looking at how many people we’re planning for and how many people are coming through. We try to always expand our service hours as we get closer and closer to the election,” she said.
Smith said they’ve also started using pop-up voting locations to reach more people.
“In 2023, there was a legislative change that allows for us to have sites around the city that are open for different lengths of time as well as different dates form our main site. We’ve really taken the opportunity to host some one-day early vote pop-ups… in some unique and really great spaces throughout the city,” Smith said.
Sunday’s pop-up was at the Capri Theater. Paige Gayle voted here along with her sister.
“I like early voting because it’s convenient, it’s fast and it’s quick,” she said. “I work on actual election day, so for me it was important to get out beforehand.”
Smith said offering more voting opportunities for people in Minneapolis is crucial to their work.
“It’s so important to be able to offer all of these voting methods so that people can find something that works really well for them and make their voting plan,” Smith said.
Voters tell KARE 11 one of the perks to early voting is little to no wait. Voting early also gives them peace of mind and is one less thing to do on election day.
“It’s so much more convenient. This way I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll still be working on election day, so I would have had to go in before or after work. Now, I don’t have to worry about it. I know my vote will be counted,” Macy Bauers said.
Bauers said she votes in every election and hopes more people take advantage of early voting in the coming days.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were shot, two of them fatally in a Minneapolis encampment on Sunday afternoon, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., said the MPD.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
A woman was also taken to the hospital after the shooting and is in critical condition, said the MPD.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
