Myocarditis patient educates students about healthy lifestyle

When Shawntae Brewer was 13 years old, she didn't know her health was at risk. Chicago resident Shawntae Brewer recalls that she was more focused on passing her softball test at her gym than on her pervasive cough. Fortunately, Brewer's mother decided that the sounds of her daughter's cough and her persistence meant she needed to go to the hospital.

“Her cough was a combination of a smoker's cough,” said Brewer, now 36. “Imagine a 13-year-old girl with a really bad cough.” “I had never had a softball test. The moment I walked into the emergency room, I knew the triage was going to look at everything and say if I had a cold, I was safe to go home.”

However, when shown an X-ray, her heart was on either side of her chest. Brewer was so swollen that her heart was struggling to beat, she said.

“I thank God for my mother,” Brewer said.

She remembers how mouth breathing while running led doctors to the root cause of the problem. She had myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. Brewer's cardiologist, Dr. William Kotz, medical director of advanced heart failure and heart transplants at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said Brewer's symptoms were caused by a virus. Her body may have attacked her heart while the virus was attacking.

“In many cases, it will subside on its own, it will get better, and people's minds will return to normal and they will feel better,” he said. “And in some patients, their heart deteriorates over time.”

Brewer took medication to stay healthy and lived her life as best she could, traveling, becoming an educator, and registering as an organ donor at age 19. One day process without knowing that I would be going to the side.

Brewer contracted the coronavirus upon returning from a trip to South Africa with a layover in Amsterdam. And while she and her heart got through it, Brewer said her mood changed after that. From that point on, she had no energy to do anything. She lost a lot of weight and could no longer keep her diet in check. She went to the hospital thinking she had another stomach problem.

“Lo and behold, I found myself saying to myself, 'I fought the good fight, it's time to retire,'” Brewer said. She was admitted to Christ Medical Center and received her new heart less than a week later, on February 12, 2023. She was hospitalized for six weeks.

Brewer celebrated the first anniversary of his heart transplant in February, which is American Heart Month, by traveling to Wisconsin Dells to celebrate with friends and family. She had become accustomed to living with her heart functioning in decline for most of her life and accepted the fact that she might not live into her 80s or 90s like her family.

“Now that I have the transplant, I feel like I want to be here until I'm 90 years old. I can be here with the rest of my family,” she said. Ms. Brewer is committed to sharing her experience as a transplant recipient with the world, including elementary school students.

As the founder and executive director of Vision Outreach, an initiative that teaches STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math), urban agriculture, and social-emotional learning in classrooms, she has since taken over the role of behind-the-scenes wellness. We continue to discuss science. She currently teaches elementary school students at the Cambridge Classical Academy in the Grand Her Boulevard neighborhood.

Brewer said she accepts calf hearts and lungs from a butcher shop so students can perform fake surgeries. When students ask questions about her surgical scars or watch the 36-year-old use her cane, Brewer turns their questions into teachable moments about science, biology and healthy lifestyles. I'll change it. She aims to pass on her knowledge as well as her wisdom so that it spreads further and changes the way the black community is viewed and makes people healthier and happier.

“I talk about their diet and nutrition,” she said. “I was already a very tech-savvy person. Now I included science as it relates not only to space but also to health. The students who have met me over the past two years know that I am a very tech-savvy person. “They literally watched my health progress and told me to remember, “You know, I don't know what my identity is.'' Have you ever heard anyone talk about anything other than positive things about the situation? I always keep a positive mindset.”

Kotz said that mindset has led Brewer to his current position.

When the pandemic began, she turned to urban farming, growing sunflowers, tomatoes, more than a dozen varieties of the world's spiciest peppers, kale, spinach, collard greens, cabbage, and lettuce. This year, Brewer is focusing on leafy greens.

“You almost never eat salad unless you grow it yourself,” she said. “We do not use any pesticides. We are 100% organic farmers.”

Brewer is proud to be the mother of nine chickens on her farm. She has her own channel under the name ChiFarmerBae that delivers numerous “How to Grow” videos on TikTok and her YouTube. She hosts virtual field trips for students, showing how she grows everything and introducing her to “baby chicks.”

She has also been known to play the role of a teaching assistant, taking her baby chicks to school and letting them sit on her shoulders or sit at her desk. “When the class gets noisy, the chickens tend to cluck to calm the class down,” she said.

Just this week, one of her chicks laid an egg during a 2nd and 3rd grade class. Mr. Brewer also has a chicken named Transplant. Because when she came out of her shell, she had small white feathers on the front of her chest.

Over the next five years, Brewer, an Illinois State University graduate, plans to expand his farm, add more community gardens, and develop youth in a holistic way, hoping to have a child of his own, preferably a boy. I envision growing it.

“To be honest, I don't look like a typical heart transplant patient,” Brewer said. “Usually when you hear heart transplant, you're talking about someone who's past childbearing age. The main focus of the medication is obviously to keep you alive, because your immune system is weakened, and prevent pregnancy. It's not supportive. Dr. Kotz has known me for years. …After the transplant, maybe two weeks later, I said, “We're having a baby.'' Dr. Kotz said, “You guys don't know Shaunte. When she says she's going to do it, she's going to do it.”

“Tomorrow is not promised.…If there’s one thing I want people to take away from my story, it’s to live life to the fullest and always act with compassion on your journey.” That's true,” Brewer said.

Although Brewer will continue to take medication for the rest of his life, the risk of heart transplant rejection or infection often decreases over time, Kotz said. The first year is when the most harmful events can occur and people need to be monitored most closely, he said.

Because risk factors for heart failure include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, history of valve abnormalities, congenital heart disease, and coronary artery disease, there are many things health care professionals can do to prevent heart failure and address risk factors. said Kotz.

“Everyone needs to see their doctor regularly and if they have any of these risk factors, they need to make sure they are being addressed,” Kotz said.

“Another thing to keep track of is your symptoms. If you have symptoms such as shortness of breath, decreased exercise capacity, increased fatigue, or difficulty sleeping, some of these symptoms may indicate the presence of heart failure. Yes, the presence of chest pain or pressure “This is a very important symptom. First, know what risk factors you have, what diseases can lead to heart failure, and seek medical care. It starts by working with people to address them as quickly as possible.”