{"id":282979,"date":"2018-08-24T06:06:26","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T20:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=282979"},"modified":"2018-08-24T06:06:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T20:06:26","slug":"nmc-graduate-needs-a-new-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/nmc-graduate-needs-a-new-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"NMC graduate needs a new heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Koniko Nakazato poses with brother Raymond Nakazato at his college graduation in the Northern Marianas College in May. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Raymond Franklin Masga Nakazato just graduated from the Northern Marianas College with a degree in Natural Resources Management in May.<\/p>\n

Yet a moment that should have been full of hope and optimism came with a blow: Nakazato, who is in his early 20s, is now in need of a heart transplant and needs it immediately as his health is deteriorating every day. <\/p>\n

Nakazato has a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. It is when the heart\u2019s ability to pump blood is compromised because the main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, is enlarged and weakened.<\/p>\n

Nakazato\u2019s aunt, Caroline Agulto, said that they are sharing Raymond\u2019s story with a hope that their family can get help from the community. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs there is no cardio specialist on Saipan, Raymond is currently confined [at the] Guam Regional Medical City and we need to fly him to the U.S. mainland to get the process of a heart transplant to start. He can\u2019t fly on a regular flight\u2026 we need an air ambulance with a doctor and nurse beside him.\u201d<\/p>\n

His family has done the research and were dismayed to find out that it is very costly to be transported on an air ambulance. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to get him to a hospital in the mainland because getting a heart transplant is not easily available here\u2026it takes time\u2026We want him to be on his way to the mainland to get treated because it\u2019s a process and his heart keeps deteriorating and it\u2019s starting to affect the other organs\u2026 his liver is also starting to fail and it\u2019s not a good sign,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

His family wants to raise $150,000 to jumpstart Nakazato\u2019s treatment in either Washington or California. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have plans of working with charities and foundations to help with medical costs. We can only do that when we are in the mainland already\u2026he has been denied twice because he doesn\u2019t have insurance, only Medicaid,\u201d said Victoria Bu\u00f1ag, Nakazato\u2019s girlfriend.<\/p>\n

She said that Nakazato became sick with a flu virus in December last year. But it was only in June that doctors were finally able to pinpoint the proximate cause of his weakening condition\u2014an enlarged heart. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors believe it was caused by a virus\u2026other than that, he was pretty healthy as he was not a drinker or a smoker\u2026[At first, it was thought to be] a gall stone problem but the doctor who was about to operate on him asked for another CT scan because the symptoms were not compatible with a gall-stone problem. Then the latest CT scan showed it was his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

It turns out that it is not only Nakazato who needs an organ transplant in the family. His sister, Koniko, was due for a kidney transplant in June but they had to set that aside. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was diagnosed with a kidney condition in November 2015. My mother and I were supposed to fly to the U.S. mainland to get the process of a kidney transplant started but Raymond\u2019s condition happened. Our goal now is to get Raymond transported and be situated in a hospital so they can care for him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family has been going through the hardest time trying to prepare for my treatment\u2026and now my brother\u2026The $150,000 is only enough for one transplant. \u2026the whole cost actually amounts to $1.4 million out of pocket..but our priority right now is for my brother to be transported to the [United] States,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Agulto said that Nakazato was supposed to fly back to Saipan last Tuesday. \u201cWe were told that his medicine is available here but, honestly, the medicine that he is on right now is temporary. It is just to help his heart pump. The doctors in Guam say if he comes here, it would be considered a death sentence and that\u2019s why we need him to be in the mainland to get the proper medical attention and start the process of getting a transplant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce in the States, there are available charities and foundations that can help him. It\u2019s just that these organizations cannot help him while he is here. We want people to know that if they see us on the road, night market and Saturday market doing a coin drive, that is for Raymond and Koniko. That\u2019s what we want\u2026I know it\u2019s a long shot but it\u2019s a fighting shot. We love him\u2026 he is so young to undergo this ordeal and we want to give him a fighting chance\u2026We fervently hope that the community will help us,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Caroline Agulto and Victoria Bunag can be reached at (670) 789-87-93 and (670) 2866459. You can visit their Facebook Page: \u201cForBo&ko\u201d, GoFundMe site: https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/a-mother039s-tears?pc=em_dn_cpgnpg_a&rcid=119f558bed6b477ca382ef27a8673685 and check out their T-shirt collaboration with Tribe Marianas where proceeds will help with Nakazato\u2019s medical fund. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raymond Franklin Masga Nakazato just graduated from the Northern Marianas College with a degree in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":282980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[22462,69,262,22463],"class_list":["post-282979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-caroline-agulto","tag-nmc","tag-northern-marianas-college","tag-victoria-bu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}