Sarah Scarletto's life is on hold.
She waits in a hospital room while a machine pumps blood through her heart. Tiny electronic beeps monitor her heart beat, her pulse, her breathing.
Sarah is waiting to live again.
On May 10, the 15-year-old Westview High School student fainted three times on the Avondale campus.
Doctors thought Sarah was dehydrated, said her mother, Margaret Nolte.
"We thought she just needed fluids, but the fluids never came," she said. "The doctor called us over and said he needed to show us something. He held a picture of a normal heart and then our daughter's heart and that's when the carpet was pulled out from underneath."
Sarah's health rapidly declined. She was transported to Phoenix Children's Medical Center and diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy. Her birth father died from the same disease three years ago.
On May 15, she suffered a stroke, leaving her speechless and unable to move. However, by the end of the day, Sarah was able to talk and move again.
On May 21, she was transported by air to Tucson's University Medical Center and rushed into surgery to place a ventricular assistive device into her heart. Her condition was grave, Nolte said, and doctors didn't believe she'd live much longer. Her organs were failing and her heart was shutting down.
Margaret said a nurse asked her and her husband, Larry, to "Go down to the little room where you get the bad news."
"Doctors came in and a chaplain and said, 'Sarah's at the bottom of the hill and in a very dark place,'" Margaret said.
Hope floats
Margaret began to pray, believing Jesus would guide her daughter toward better health, she said.
"Jesus will heal her. She was on dialysis, a breathing machine, all kinds of tubes sticking out of her, but she was stable and that's what we wanted," she said.
Within a day, Sarah "bounced" back, Margaret said.
Doctors were able to successfully perform a second open heart surgery to reduce fluids around the heart.
On May 31, Sarah was placed at the top of the Arizona organ transplant list.
"I'll never forget that day. We knew the whole time she needed a heart transplant but you have to be well enough to receive a heart," Margaret said. "That's all you can hope for. She's one day closer to getting home. We're waiting, just waiting."
Time to cherish
The Noltes can't predict when their daughter will receive a heart but they are cherishing each day they have with her.
"The joy of the lord got into her heart," said Sharon Nolte, Sarah's grandmother.
She has sat with Sarah during the night to offer comfort and protection.
"We talk about how sometimes curses are truly blessings. We have total trust in our doctors and in God," she said.
Blessings are counted as the Nolte family waits for a heart.
"Maybe people can take a second look at their kids. What's here one day may not be here the next," Margaret said. "I look at her and I watch her and she laughs and I love it. Take a second look at your kids."
Sara Bisker can be reached by e-mail at sbisker@westvalleyview.com.
