Christophe Lafontant

Doctors were convinced that Christophe Lafontant would not live to see his seventh birthday after collapsing in his New Jersey home one night, due to complete heart block and heart failure. The diagnosis was baffling, and survival was highly unlikely. With an unknown diagnosis he was urgently transferred from New York to the National Institute of Health, a research hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.  An emergency pacemaker was implanted and he was diagnosed with a cardiomyopathy of uncertain etiology.

In his junior year of high school, he was faced with severe deterioration of his heart and received his first heart transplant in March of 2000. Despite complications after surgery and several readmissions, he graduated with honors and was admitted to Columbia University in 2001. In 2004, he faced rejection of his first donor heart and after eight months in the Intensive Care Unit, he received his second heart transplant.

In 2010, he developed generalized weakness, followed by respiratory failure with multiple intubations and ventilator support. After an extensive workup, at the age of twenty-seven, he was diagnosed with a rare disease, Myofibrillar Myopathy, caused by a genetic mutation. He needed a tracheostomy and continued respiratory support and required several months of intensive rehabilitation and physical therapy.

Christop has survived two heart transplants, a kidney transplant, gallbladder removal, lung collapse, pain medication drug overdose, respiratory failure, thyroid cancer, a pulmonary embolism, and a tracheotomy.  Christope is currently fully wheelchair bound, ventilator dependent, and requires the assistance of a full time (24/7) personal aide.  His circumstances have humbled him and made him realize what’s truly important. He realizes now more than ever not to take anything or anyone for granted because you never know what tomorrow may bring.

Christophe currently works very closely with the pediatric transplant team at New York Presbyterian Children’s hospital providing counseling for children awaiting heart transplants, as well as organizing events and toy drive donations year round. Six years ago, his life story was chronicled in a self-published memoir entitled, 1 Man, 3 Hearts, 9 Lives.  As a result, Christophe also began speaking locally at schools, libraries, and churches in my area and is now taking his motivational speaking career from a local level to a national one.