Man journeys for surgery August 8, 2006

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HARVARD - Ellen Maddox-Montemayor is holding out hope for her brother-in-law, Manny Montemayor. and his family.
A Harvard resident and father of three, Manny Montemayor has been in Bangkok, Thailand, for nearly a month recovering from a stem-cell procedure.

The surgery, not yet approved here by the Food and Drug Administration, was conducted March 21 as a way to treat dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease that Manny Montemayor was diagnosed with about a decade ago.

“We’re taking it step by step,” said Maddox-Montemayor, a former Spring Grove resident who now lives in Heathrow, Fla. “I hope this will really work for him.”

Although Manny Montemayor, 41, is expected to return to the United States today, he likely will go right into the hospital because of a heart attack he suffered after the stem-cell procedure, his sister-in-law said.

A fundraiser started by St. Joseph Church in Harvard has raised about $18,000 so far for Manny Montemayor and his family, parish secretary Mary Ellen Hollech said. But donations still are needed.

Maddox-Montemayor said her brother-in-law did his best to keep going to his job at a loan company until December, when he became too severely ill to work. Two of his children, Alek, 12, and Danielle, 10, have been found to have the same heart condition, she said.

“They don’t have any income,” Maddox-Montemayor said. “He has been in and out of the hospital so much, and throughout all of that, he maintained his work and supported his family.”

Maddox-Montemayor said her brother-in-law chose the stem-cell surgery as an alternative procedure to a heart transplant. Time was running out for him to wait on a donor list for a new heart, his sister-in-law said.

Dee Fontana, a heart failure nurse practitioner at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, said stem cell transplants to treat cardiomyopathy still is in trial stages in the United States.

“In order for it to be FDA approved, they have to jump through so many hoops,” she said. “So many patients have to be enrolled. They have to study it. It has to be closely scrutinized by the FDA before it can be released.”

Fontana said heart conditions such as cardiomyopathy can be genetic. Manny Montemayor’s mother and two of his sisters died from heart-related illnesses, his sister-in-law said. So far, his youngest daughter, Jane, 4, is not showing any signs of carrying the gene.

“They know so little about this procedure and its long term effects,” Maddox-Montemayor said. “I guess we’re looking for a miracle.”

To learn more about the fundraiser for Manny Montemayor or to donate, call (815) 943-6406.