DECATUR — A chili supper and auction to benefit Donna Clark Aman, who is in urgent need of a heart transplant, is planned for May 15 at the Northside Elementary School Cafeteria.

The event will begin with dinner at 5 p.m. and a performance by up-and-coming country singer Meagan White at 6 p.m. An auction will follow.

Donna and her husband Tom Aman have four children and three grandchildren, with another on the way.

Her journey began in August of 2009, when she went to the hospital because she wasn’t feeling well. Initially, doctors told her she may have had a small heart attack, according to her daughter Gala Aman.

After seeing a specialist and undergoing a variety of tests, Donna’s doctors discovered that her heart was only functioning at 7 percent of its capacity. At first the doctors thought Donna may have had a blockage, but soon they found she had contracted a virus that kills muscles throughout the body, Gala said.

Donna had been diabetic since age 40. The symptoms of the virus mimicked those of a diabetic who had been eating poorly, so the virus was disguised until it had done a considerable amount of damage to her body, Gala explained.

The virus had attacked her heart muscle, and Donna was in the middle stages of heart failure. She was told the most her heart would ever function would be 15 percent and the only answer was to have a heart transplant.

“How do you ask God to giveyour mother a heart to save her when you know it will mean someone else will lose a loved one? We didn’t have all the answers, but we needed to try. As for the questions that seem like they have no answers, we leave those in God’s hands,” Gala wrote about her mother in Peekaboo Magazine.

Donna worked for a small company that didn’t offer insurance, and she wouldn’t be able to continue working. Her husband Tom is already on workers compensation due to an injury he received at work, Gala said.

“A million things entered my mind when we learned the diagnosis,” Gala wrote. “How will we ever pay for a $600,000 surgery?” she wondered.

Although Gala has since been able to get on disability, Medicare has a cap on how much it will pay each year and leaves thefamily with a number of medical expenses, Gala said.

At 51, Donna can no longer do many of the things most of us take for granted.

“Just getting up to answer the phone is a big deal to her.” Gala said.

Even so, “she handles it like a champ,” Gala said.

The illness caused Gala to see her mom in a new light and Gala said her mom has taught her what it really means to have courage and strength throughout the ordeal.

Donna and Tom visited doctors in Kansas City last week and were given more hope. What was previously thought to be an aneurysm in her heart, making the situation even more dire, turned out to be a harmless flap of skin Donna has had since a child, Gala said. The doctors in Kansas City saidthey can also use a heart pump to help Donna, but it will only buy her more time until she has to have a heart transplant.

The planned benefit will help raise money for a deposit so Donna can have the much-needed operation if a heart becomes available, Gala said.

Donations will be taken at the door, and those who are unable to attend can make a contribution to Donna Aman’s Heart Transplant Fund at Arvest Bank or the Decatur State Bank. Donations of desserts and new items for the auction are also welcomed.

For more information, contact Gala Aman at 918-326-1002.

News, Pages 1 on 05/12/2010