Naiya says she feels like a walking miracle and is blessed to be surrounded by all the doctors, nurses and medical staff at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.
Leaves Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Just in Time to Celebrate Her Son’s First Birthday at Home
Naiya Atkins is a walking miracle. Just 17 days after giving birth to her son, on February 1, 2023, she had a heart attack, followed by a cardiac arrest, and later heart failure. The 37-year-old Newark, New Jersey second-grade teacher has spent the first year of her son’s life in and out of the hospital fighting for her life.
But thanks to the Interventional Cardiology and Advanced Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant teams at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, in Newark, New Jersey, Naiya was discharged from the hospital on January 31 just in time to celebrate her son’s first birthday at home, surrounded by her family.
It all started on February 18, 2023, at 2 a.m. when Naiya began experiencing severe dizziness and nausea, although she felt no chest pain, her mom called an ambulance. At the Emergency Department at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Naiya experienced an abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular tachycardia.
The Division of Cardiology at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center treats a broad spectrum of structural heart conditions including: STEMI, cardiogenic shock, advanced heart failure, isolated right heart failure, postpartum and postchemotherapy cardiomyopathies.
She was rushed to the cardiac catheterization lab for further evaluation. The interventional cardiology team led by Dr. Chirag Patel, diagnosed her with a rare condition, spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD).
“This rare condition can occur in women, especially between their second trimester of pregnancy and the postpartum period immediately after delivery,” said Chirag Patel, MD, the interventional cardiologist at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center who performed the procedure to open up Naiya’s heart’s blood vessels and stabilize her heart’s rhythm.
They removed the blockages to her heart and gave her medications. She was taken to Newark Beth Israel Medical Center’s Cardiac Care ICU and within an hour Naiya went into cardiac arrest. She was immediately resuscitated but her heart would never be the same. Naiya’s heart was failing.
Most heart attacks occur because of plaque build up and plaque rupture which causes a blockage in the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart.
“Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) usually occurs in younger women who are close to delivering a child or right after delivering a child. Hormonal changes can place these women at increased risk of experiencing spontaneous dissection or rupture of their coronary arteries. When this happens, it restricts blood flow to the heart and the heart needs its own blood supply to do its job,” said Dr. Fazal Ali, cardiologist, Advanced Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.
Towards the end of her pregnancy and since giving birth to her son, Naiya was having trouble controlling her blood pressure. She remembers telling the heart specialists in the Advanced Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant team at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center about her chest pain and shortness of breath.
“Postpartum, these are not unusual symptoms, but her symptoms were so severe that she looked for medical attention,” states Claudia Gidea, MD, Program Director of Heart Transplantation, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Advanced Heart Failure at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.
The Advanced Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant team at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center implanted an intra-aortic balloon pump and placed her on intravenous medications, but Naiya’s heart was operating at 15% and by September her other organs were beginning to fail. She needed a heart transplant.
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Division of Cardiology uses the most advanced state-of-the-art medical and interventional treatments, including: temporary mechanical circulatory support devices (as Impella, ECMO), durable LVAD (Heart Mate3) and heart transplantation.
She was admitted to Newark Beth Israel Medical Center again in November and soon after placed on the waiting list for transplant. Naiya spent the holidays in the hospital, away from her family and her newborn son, Joseph “JoJo.”
On January 5 she got the call, and on January 6 Dr. Margarita Camacho, Surgical Director of Heart Transplant at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, performed a life-saving heart transplant on Naiya.
Naiya says she feels like a walking miracle and is blessed to be surrounded by all the doctors, nurses and medical staff at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center who have been with her every step of the way from the time she gave birth to her son at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center until the moment she walked out of the Medical Center with her new heart transplant.
Naiya’s story is a reminder of how heart disease so often presents differently in women, is the number one cause of death for women, and can strike at any moment, even during pregnancy.
In fact, Eman Rashed, MD, PhD, cardiologist, advanced heart failure treatment and transplant, specializes in cardio-obstetrics and works with Newark Beth Israel Medical Center’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Division to care for women with pregnancy-related heart disease.
Claudia Gidea, MD, Program Director, Advanced Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant Program and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, discusses women’s heart issues, during pregnancy and immediately afterwards.
Fazal Ali, DO, Cardiologist, Advanced Heart Failure Treatment and Transplant Program at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, talks about the incidence of women’s heart issues after giving birth and the rare incidence of SCAD (spontaneous coronary artery dissection).
No one plans on heart problems. But everyone should have a plan for them. Make your plan for heart health at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.