Kaitlyn Amos: From College Athlete to Genetic Counselor

Kaitlyn Amos was a promising college athlete attending Baylor University in Texas who had never really had health issues at this point in her life. She was diagnosed with a life-altering disease at the very beginning of her adulthood, at the age of 18 years old. In her freshman year at college pursuing soccer, she began to struggle with physical symptoms of shortness of breath and fatigue, issues which an athlete on a college team should typically not be experiencing. Upon realization of these continuous physical symptoms, Amos visited a doctor who had diagnosed her with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a heart muscle disease which enlarges the heart by stretching the heart chambers, making it harder for the heart to pump blood throughout the body. The dilated cardiomyopathy was a continuous problem for Amos for 12 years, at the age of 31 and this disease only progressed. The increasing progression put Amos on a defibrillator to ensure the stability of her heart.

During this period of time, Amos had been reevaluating her career aspirations as her medical condition had progressively become such a huge part of her life. In her 20s, her goals of becoming an administrative assistant changed to that of a genetic counselor after being inspired by a genetic counselor who aided her. Even prior to her transplant, Amos had always taken initiative in the organ donation community as she signed up to be an organ donor on her drivers license at the age of 16. With the support of those around her, Amos prevailed through graduate school, despite her transplant, occurring long after she was admitted in 2018. In only three weeks of being listed for a transplant, Amos underwent the procedure with an 8 hour preparation. Amos was met with disappointment as the heart pressure failed. Luckily, she was able to receive her current transplanted heart just a week later. 

Amos has proven to continuously overcome hurdles that come her way, as seen with the years of the pandemic. With this, Amos expressed extreme gratitude for her donor and doctors who were beside her along the way. She is now able to see a bright future of possibilities in a career that allows her to help others facing cardiac conditions. To encourage others to register as organ donors, Amos poses the same question to the youth of this generation through the words of her favorite poet, Mary Oliver, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”