A second chance. Kennewick man embraces life after heart and liver transplants
Five years ago, the Tri-Cities community came together to raise money through a series of fundraisers for a Kennewick man waiting on a heart and liver transplant. After a long and trying journey, he’s back home and cherishing what he calls a second chance at life.
Skylar Collins was born with a condition called hypoplastic right heart syndrome, a type of congenital heart disease. The right ventricle of his heart never developed.
He remembers playing flag football with friends during recess at Eastgate Elementary School in Kennewick and stopping to catch his breath, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
Collins often experienced these feelings in his body during more physically demanding sports.
Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are the most common birth defect in the U.S. About 40,000 babies each year, or 1% of all births nationally, are born with a CHD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Growing up, Collins didn’t play contact sports because his sternum had weakened from multiple surgeries.
But most of the time, Collins didn’t let his disease limit him.
Surgery after surgery
His first open heart surgery was just hours after he was born.
Collins, a newborn, was quickly flown from Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland to Spokane’s Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for the surgery.
By the time he was 27, Collins had already undergone 10 heart surgeries, including a Fontan procedure when he was 12. Most people live another 30 years or more after the Fontan surgery, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Now 31, Collins lives in Kennewick with his wife and their first child, embracing a “second opportunity” at life after receiving a heart and liver transplant in 2022.
“I still have a disease, but essentially, I’m living a normal life,” Collins told the Tri-City Herald.
Destination Los Angeles
Collins had been living with the disease all of his life — until his condition became so serious that he needed a heart and liver transplant.
He typically saw doctors for treatment in Spokane, traveling there every month from Tri-Cities.
Collins describes the Fontan procedure he had as a child as a “Band-Aid” to improve his condition.
The procedure put more pressure on his liver over time, leading to disease and cirrhosis.
Collins knew that he would need a heart transplant someday, but the time came sooner than expected.
At the end of 2019, doctors in Spokane felt he was healthy enough to be a candidate for a donor heart and liver and referred him out of state.
Collins’ health journey took him as far as Los Angeles so specialists at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center could perform his life-saving transplant surgery.
It look several attempts — over a span of years — for Collins to receive the surgery, however.
He was selected for surgery in December 2019 and doctors at UCLA instructed him to move to LA in March 2020. Then the coronavirus pandemic began and Collins couldn’t be admitted as a patient when he arrived.
He then returned to Tri-Cities, until he was called back to LA in July 2020.
At this point, Collins was discharged and marked as a Status 7 patient, meaning he would be inactive on the organ transplant waiting list. Collins was told that because of personnel issues, the surgical team at UCLA was not performing heart transplants temporarily.
“Every time a doctor came and told me that I had to be put on status 7 or discharged, I felt like we were never going to get there (and) that it was taking way longer than it should be,” Collins said.
He returned to Tri-Cities again in October 2020 to keep waiting.
During the waiting periods, Collins worked at Lutheran Community Services Northwest to provide mental health support for youth.
Time for a transplant
About a year later, in August 2021, he and his wife moved to LA. He was admitted at UCLA, only to be discharged again in November.
“I felt like I was a ticking time bomb,” Collins said.
“The first time (that I was discharged), I wasn’t really that worried because I still felt good. The second time, I really had a decline.”
Collins recalls feeling extremely sick in the fall of 2021 as he waited for surgery, back home in Tri-Cities.
He slept during all hours of the day, had little energy and reached a point when he needed to be hospitalized in Spokane because there was fluid around his heart and lungs.
Collins said he couldn’t stay awake long enough to process what was happening.
“I thought I was close (to dying),” Collins said. “I thought, ‘This is it. We’re not making the transplant.’”
That scare sent him back to LA. This time, Collins needed immediate treatment.
“It took a lot of patience and (there were) a lot of tears,” Collins said.
“I can go back to that day when I got the call saying I had a match. It was so surreal.”
In December 2021, Collins was readmitted at UCLA and had a successful heart and liver transplant surgery on Jan. 25, 2022.
He credits his Christian faith, his wife, his family, friends and community for supporting him.
“What kept me going is that I knew I wasn’t done here yet,” Collins said.
“I had goals that I needed to meet. I had ambition to do more in my life.”
Collins is determined to live out a long, healthy life, in part to carry on the legacy of his donor.
His donor was Nate Rhoades, a 21-year-old man from Ojai, California, who died in a car accident in January 2022.
Collins formed a special connection with Rhoades’ parents, Allison and Larry Rhoades, according to People magazine.
A year of recovery
During his recovery, Collins received financial assistance from Heartfelt Dreams Foundation, a New Hampshire-based nonprofit founded by Eric and Lori Ankerud. Lori is a CHD patient.
The nonprofit has helped pay for Collins’ flights to LA, hotel costs, gas and other travel expenses.
Collins and his family also fundraised close to $40,000 to help pay for him and his wife to live in California from August 2021 to February 2023. That period included a year of recovery so Collins would be closely monitored by doctors in LA before he moved back to Tri-Cities.
Collins did months of physical therapy and had regular doctor visits during his recovery. He also was able to spend time with his wife, family and friends at California beaches, walking up and down the coastline as he got better.
Collins and his wife made close friendships with the doctors, nurses and staff at UCLA and other CHD patients while they were in LA.
At least for the first three years post-surgery, Collins must travel to Seattle every three months for appointments at the University of Washington Medical Center and visits LA every six months for tests at UCLA to ensure there are no signs of organ rejection.
‘Living a normal life’
Now, just over three years since his transplant surgery, Collins says he has more energy, more consistent, fuller breaths and better color in his face, fingers and nails. He’s also reached a healthy weight.
“I remember waking up and noticing my hands, my feet and my nails,” Collins said. “I’d never had pink nails or pink toes before.”
He focuses on eating well, exercising and taking necessary medications, including immunosuppressants.
Collins now works as a child welfare social service specialist for the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families.
In Tri-Cities, he enjoys fishing, going to concerts and being in nature with his wife and new baby.
Collins’ parents and his sister live in Kennewick. His wife’s family also lives in Tri-Cities.
