14-Year-Old Boy Discovers He Needs a Heart Transplant During a Family Vacation After Experiencing This Symptom (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Jaden Hartley in the hospital (left); Jayden Hartley celebrates 15th birthday.Photo:Courtesy of Abojenae Grayer

Courtesy of Abojenae Grayer

In June 2024, 14-year-old Jaden Hartley was on a family vacation in Hawaii when he began to feel ill.

The teen had traveled from Chicago as part of a Make-a-Wish Foundation trip for his cousin, who has sickle cell anemia. The first full day, the family went on a boat trip and got shaved ice, but on the second day, the teen felt like he was going to throw up if he ate anything.

Later, he went to lie down to take a nap in his hotel room, but he had trouble breathing.

“I couldn’t breath regularly,” Jaden tells PEOPLE. “My breathing wasn’t straight. It wasn’t normal.”

Jaden Hartley.Courtesy of Abojenae Grayer

He then texted his mother, who asked if he wanted to go to the hospital. “I said no, I really didn’t want to ruin my trip,” he says.

Ultimately, Jaden’s mother, Abojenae Grayer, a 35-year-old customer service manager, convinced her son to let her take him to the hospital. Later that evening, doctors told the teen he had an enlarged heart and was experiencing heart failure. Doctors said Jaden would likely need a heart transplant.

“It was extremely scary,” Grayer recalls. She called Jaden’s father, who was home in Chicago, and he immediately flew to Honolulu.

“It was very unexpected,” Jaden’s father Ja’Shar Hartley, 34, says. “Very shocking. Because he was an athlete.”

On June 7 — the day his family returned home from their vacation — the teen and his father were airlifted toAnn & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

“He was so sick when he came in,” pediatric cardiologist and division head of pediatric cardiology at Lurie Children’s HospitalDr. Stuart Berger, 71, tells PEOPLE.

Jaden was born with a heart murmur. When he was around 7, he had surgery to repair a leak in his heart valve, but his parents say that after the procedure, he was an active, healthy teen — he even played basketball.

Jaden tells PEOPLE that he began noticing that he was getting winded when he climbed the stairs from the first floor of his high school to the third floor for classes around May of last year. “I was gassed,” he says. “I thought I was out of shape.”

He also noticed that often when he tried to eat, he would throw up. “I couldn’t keep food down for long,” he says.

He mentioned his symptoms to his father, who called Jaden’s primary care doctor. But, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to make an appointment for Jaden until after he was scheduled to return from Hawaii.

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Dr. Berger says Jaden’s diagnoses of dilated cardiac myopathy could be related to his heart condition as a child, but there’s no direct link. He explains that Jaden’s heart muscle was weak, and the heart enlarges rather than pumping normally.

Jaden spent about six weeks in the hospital before receiving anAbbott HeartMate 3 LVADheart pump, a ventricular assist device, just a few days before he celebrated his 15th birthday on June 30.

Jaden Hartley celebrates his 15th birthday.Courtesy of Abojenae Grayer

According to Dr. Berger, the device “really allowed him to recover.” He adds, “It essentially takes the place of a heart, it takes the function of a heart, so it does the pumping.”

The device gave Jaden’s body a chance to heal, regain his strength and become healthier before he had a heart transplant, the doctor explains.

During his extended hospital stay, Jaden received a special visit from NFL starDamar Hamlin, who was in a unique position to understand what the teen was going through after experiencingcardiac arrest mid-game in 2023.

“He kinda experienced what I experienced,” Jaden explains. “He had a cardiac arrest on the field in the NFL. I feel like his was way scarier than mine.”

During his visit, the Buffalo Bills safety took time to play video games with Jaden, while also offering him some advice.

“He was saying, ‘You just got to pray. You’re not going to be on this forever, you just got to keep your hopes up and not trying to think about the bad side of it. Just get through it. You’re going to get through it,’ " Jaden remembers.

From left: Abojenae Grayer, Jaden Hartley, Damar Hamlin and Ja’Shar Hartley.Courtesy of Abojenae Grayer

Jaden was placed on the transplant list on Sept. 13 of last, and he received a new heart 10 days later.

“So many things fell into place to really save his life,” Dr. Berger says. “I think if this were, oh, let’s say 20 years ago, these capabilities wouldn’t have existed and there would’ve been a likelihood that his life wouldn’t be saved.”

Now the high school sophomore is back in school and a member of the Heartmates program, sharing his story to give hope and encouragement to others experiencing heart failure.

“It’s been a roller coaster, but I feel good,” Jaden says. “God gave me a second chance at life, so I just don’t want to take it for granted.”

source: people.com