On May 3, Katelyn Baughman received the long-awaited call.  

She was a match for a donor heart. 

Katelyn learned in February that she needed a heart transplant after being diagnosed with Danon disease, a rare genetic condition that can cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy causes abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, making it harder for the heart to pump blood. 

The diagnosis followed a sudden medical emergency that sent her to pediatric intensive care at Logan Health Children’s. As her health deteriorated, she was airlifted to Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. 

Because a donor heart can survive only four to six hours outside the body, plans were quickly put into motion. The transplant was scheduled, and her father, Travis Holmquist, boarded a flight to Salt Lake City, where his wife, Debbie Holmquist, had remained to care for their daughter. 

“Her heart was functioning at about 27% and her kidneys started showing signs of the effects of all the medications,” Debbie said. “She wasn’t able to walk around for 30 to 45 minutes without being exhausted.” 

TWO WEEKS after her 18th birthday, Katelyn was wheeled into surgery. 

“I was excited and relieved, but obviously kind of scared,” Katelyn said during a June 23 phone interview. 

Katelyn was out of surgery in less than six hours, according to her parents. Debbie said they had prepared for an eight-hour wait. Her parents were relieved to learn the surgery went smoothly, with no complications or surprises, and were able to briefly visit her in the intensive care unit. 

“The room was full of machines and monitors,” Travis said. “It was difficult to see.” 

In the days following the heart transplant, Katelyn began showing signs of improvement. She had an appetite, tried walking and had her breathing tube removed, though she remained on oxygen. 

“Less than 48 hours after the transplant, Katelyn walked around the ICU twice. It was amazing to watch,” Travis said. 

She kept making progress, and doctors began reducing the 14 medications she was taking. 

During that time, Katelyn felt a level of energy she had not experienced in some time. Revitalized by her new heart, she found it difficult to sit still. 

“I feel different,” Katelyn said. “I feel a lot different. I have more energy. I can be out way longer. I feel a lot more normal. I can breathe better, sleep better.” 

“There’s just a lot more stuff I’m able to do,” she said, adding that she can currently lift 12 pounds. 

BEFORE MAKING her exit down a hospital hallway lined with cheering staff, Katelyn had one request — to see her old heart. 

Taken to a lab, she saw and held her heart for the first and last time, studying it with curiosity and awe as doctors answered her questions and explained its anatomy. 

“The heart was twice the size of a normal, healthy heart, and it weighed twice as much as it should have,” Travis recalled. “After seeing pictures, we could not believe she was living with that heart.” 

The family returned to Ronald McDonald House, where Katelyn and her mother will stay during what is expected to be a yearlong recovery involving rehabilitation and careful monitoring for any signs of organ rejection, infection or cancer. 

“The first year is the most critical, where she’s most at risk,” Debbie said. “There are a lot of medication changes as doctors work to find her baseline. They also are doing catheterizations, where they go in and biopsy the heart.” 

During the June interview, Katelyn was glad to report that her second cardiac catheterization showed improvement from the first, with no signs of rejection. 

“She will have a more invasive procedure, an angiogram, in three months to check the valves and make sure there’s no restriction or rejection,” Debbie said. 

Bracing for the year ahead, they attended church together and spent one more day as a family before Travis flew back to Kalispell on May 18 to care for their younger children and return to work. He plans to make monthly trips back to visit.

BEING SEPARATED and traveling back and forth between Salt Lake City and Kalispell has been difficult for the family. They find strength in one another, their faith and the outpouring of support from the Flathead Valley community. 

“I’ve always been in my own bubble, and to see everyone willing to help out and show they care is overwhelmingly great to know I’m not alone in it,” Katelyn said. 

Still, Katelyn and Debbie can’t wait to come home. 

“This is the season we’re in, so I’m just trying to remind myself it’s temporary. There will be a time to reconnect and be home,” Debbie said. 

In notes documenting Katelyn’s heart transplant surgery and recovery, Travis wrote: 

“We are 4 1/2 months into this journey, and our lives are forever changed. This road ahead will be difficult, but we are so thankful for our daughter’s second chance at life. She had turned 18 just 2 weeks before the heart transplant. What a gift. 

“We pray for the donor family, honoring their loss. ... Life is precious. As hard as this is, we are so thankful.” 

The Holmquists have relayed through a social worker that they are open to meeting or writing the organ donor’s family, but they realize the family may be grieving and that they may never know who the donor was. 

“That’s the bittersweet part of this. We don’t know who they are, but God knows,” Travis said. 

Reporter Hilary Matheson can be reached at 406-758-4431 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.  

Ways to donate: 

GoFundMe: https://tinyurl.com/katelynsheart 

Venmo: @Travis-Holmquist-213 

Benefit concert: Attend a Sept. 12 concert featuring local bands, including Travis Holmquist’s band, Resurgence, at the Kalispell Eagles Club, 37 First St. W. 

Donations will help cover Katelyn Baughman’s medical expenses from the period of time when the family was uninsured.

    Katelyn Baughman, 18, of Kalispell, is on a yearlong road to recovery in Salt Lake City after undergoing a successful heart transplant surgery at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital on May 4, 2026. (Photo by Uri Alaric Bendoski and Lindsey Bendoski of Gearly Beloved Productions)