For 28-year-old Jessica James, a heart condition has left her racing against time. With doctors warning that a second procedure is needed to prevent further damage, James is desperately trying to raise the US$13,000 (approximately J$2.04 million) needed for the operation. “I have AFD, which is a hole in the heart or hole in the upper chamber of the heart. This is something that was noted at birth but unfortunately nobody followed up with and I found out about at 22 years old,” she said. James, who is from Rock, Trelawny, said that, for years, she lived what she considered a relatively normal life, despite experiencing a few unexplained health issues. “It didn’t affect my childhood. I didn’t know about it, they told me that I was a sickly baby but I still didn’t know why. In my teens I had a lot of bloating and breathing issues and that was my heart condition getting worse,” she told THE STAR. The diagnosis eventually came after she fell ill at work, leading to symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea and constant pain. Switching doctors from the one she had been seeing since age 12, the new physician ordered a brain scan. “Then he went on to check my pulse and immediately he figured out something was wrong with my heart, and asked me who was my doctor and he gave me one big disappointing look,” she said. James was referred to a cardiology office, where the reality she had been living in unknowingly finally became clear. “It’s like ... you know, everything just crumbled. When I heard ‘So, yes you have a hole in your heart’ and he was explaining what it is, my mind just went blank and mi never hear anything else,” she said. She questioned how no one knew of her condition, but recalled her mother mentioning something when she was in high school.  “The thing is, I am a twin and it was around graduation time she looked at both of us and said ‘One a unnu have one hole in unnu heart, mi nuh know which one’,” she said. “I guess it was at the back of my mind until I was in the doctor’s office.” Her mother, Valarie Smart, told THE STAR that James was never sickly but, one night when the girls were little, she fell ill and was rushed to the doctor.  “Them say it sound like a hole [in the heart] and them run some test and it never show up. The doctor just did say the fever that she had sound like a hole and, because them say them never see nothing, mi never take it up in hand,” she explained. She admitted that her daughter’s situation could possibly be different if it was addressed in her formative years. In September 2023, James was eventually able to undergo surgery through a publicly funded campaign to repair the congenital hole, which was too large to be corrected through a less-invasive catheter-based procedure. “It was successful for the most part. I didn’t have much of the symptoms I had before, the bloating eased. I would get short of breath by simply talking, everything just felt new and different until recently,” James explained. But, recently, doctors discovered severe leakage of her tricuspid valve, along with a small leak in the patch used to repair the hole in her heart from the first procedure. She is now expected to undergo another procedure involving an atrial septal defect and tricuspid valve repair.  James said that, since her diagnosis, much of her adult life has been consumed by medication, doctors’ visits, and the uncertainty surrounding her health. But treating cardiologist and adult congenital heart disease specialist, Dr Deron Reid, explained to THE STAR that the average diagnosis doesn’t come until adulthood “unless when they were born the hole was quite big”. Reid explained that, if the condition is left untreated, it can worsen and eventually cause irreversible damage. “Over time, they can develop pulmonary hypertension, which can be irreversible after a period of time, and then we no longer can offer surgery. So, we try to repair them before they reach the later stage,” he said. But, for James, he explained that, because the valve is not closing as it should, causing a backflow of blood, it makes another surgery necessary to repair the valve and address the leakage. “We have to go back to do another surgery to repair that valve to tighten that area to kind of help with that leaking, so the hole was closed and a little bit was left. They will probably have to patch and tighten up,” he said. For James, knowing that another surgery is necessary has brought a mixture of fear, disappointment and financial pressure as she tries to raise the money needed for the procedure. “I am not blaming anyone but, at the same time, it’s very disappointing and it’s like I am here slowly passing away and mi can’t do anything about it. I can’t get the help from some institution because they only do children and I am an adult, and, let me tell you, it’s a lot. I planned to go back to school but this now is a lot,” she said as her voice cracked.

Persons interested in assisting Jessica James may donate to her GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/23ba3354a.