{"id":112895,"date":"2022-10-06T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com\/?p=112895"},"modified":"2022-10-08T17:28:39","modified_gmt":"2022-10-08T21:28:39","slug":"thomas-cutinellas-heart-gave-her-a-second-chance-at-life-now-shes-a-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com\/2022\/10\/112895\/thomas-cutinellas-heart-gave-her-a-second-chance-at-life-now-shes-a-mom\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Generational gift’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Like any new parent, Karen Crowell cherishes the little moments with her 4-month-old daughter, Colette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They attend baby yoga classes on Thursday, go for walks and spend time together in their home nursery. Colette recently discovered her toes \u2014 a milestone for babies around the four-month mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery little thing she does is just so captivating to me,\u201d Ms. Crowell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a heart transplant recipient, Ms. Crowell, 29, understands how fragile life can be. She learned at a young age to never take any moments for granted. Becoming a mother has only reinforced that as she experiences the joy in each of her daughter\u2019s milestones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight years ago, Ms. Crowell nearly lost her life as her weakening heart could only continue pumping with the assistance of a heavy machine known as a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD. She had been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, at age 11, when doctors discovered her enlarged heart by chance while doing an X-ray on her collarbone. She managed the progressive condition with medication over the next several years, but by age 21, she was told her only path to survival was a heart transplant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy the time I got to college, I got sicker and sicker,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2014, Ms. Crowell joined thousands of other New Yorkers on the donor transplant list, all of whom were awaiting a miracle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was starting to lose hope, but still hanging in there,\u201d she recalled of that time period, at which point she had been on the waiting list about eight weeks. Ms. Crowell had recently graduated from Fordham University and her mother had been staying with her at her Bronx apartment. Her mother woke her up around 5 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 3, 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had a heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the days that followed her life-saving procedure, Ms. Crowell saw the news headlines of how a 16-year-old football player from Shoreham-Wading River High School had died following a collision in a game. At the time, all she knew was that her heart had come from a 16-year-old boy. The timing aligned, so she wondered if it could have been his heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wouldn\u2019t be until about six months later that she learned the donor\u2019s family had expressed interest in meeting her. In May 2014, she met the Cutinella family in Wading River and learned about the life of her donor, her hero, Thomas Cutinella, whose legacy now lives on in another generation through Colette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Crowell, who now lives in Jersey City, recalled how \u201cnerve-wracking\u201d it was to first meet the Cutinella family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese people have done so much for you and you put pressure on yourself, like am I doing enough with this gift? Over the years I\u2019ve come to realize just living my life to the fullest is hopefully enough,\u201d she said in an interview Monday on the eight-year anniversary of receiving Thomas\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Ms. Crowell would one day become a mother was never a given. She knew there were risks involved with pregnancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving grown up with this ailment, having children was initially discouraged because of the various medications you have to take and the risk of the organ rejecting,\u201d she said. \u201cI honestly just wrote [having children] off as something that wouldn\u2019t happen for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the pandemic, she and her husband, Cameron, traveled often and were busy with work. When the pandemic forced everyone into isolation, she began to think more about having children. She brought it up to one of her doctors, assuming the answer would be no. To her surprise, the medical team offered to support her decision and said they would help her take all the necessary precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last October, on the seventh anniversary of her heart transplant, she surprised her family with the news that was she pregnant.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Not long after, she texted Kelli Cutinella, Thomas\u2019 mother, to ask if she had a minute to talk. Ms. Crowell and Ms. Cutinella had developed a close bond since they first met. The Cutinella family celebrated with her during various life milestones. They attended her wedding in 2018 and Ms. Cutinella ran the New York City Tunnel To Towers Run alongside Ms. Crowell, a story that was featured on the cover in the New York Daily News that same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Cutinella had seen Ms. Crowell in person not long before that text message and had suspected she might be pregnant.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Kelli Cutinella holds Colette alongsider Karen Crowell. (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWhen she reached out she was so cute about it,\u201d Ms. Cutinella said. \u201cShe\u2019s like, \u2018I have something to tell you.\u2019 And of course, in my heart, I wanted it to be that she was pregnant. I was beyond excited and thrilled for her. It\u2019s something I always wanted for Tom [to be a father], but to know that this gift of life that he gave her, she was able to continue on and leave her legacy as well with baby Colette.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Cutinella said they are grateful how Ms. Crowell and her husband have welcomed them into their family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very humbling,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great honor and we appreciate this connection in this relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Crowell said her heart held up perfectly throughout the pregnancy. She stopped taking one medication as a precaution and underwent more than the usual number of ultrasounds and doctor visits so the medical team could closely monitor every step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a lot of hard work throughout the pregnancy, but ultimately it was all very carefully managed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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