Hi my name is KJ (Krishna Jhangiani), I just turned 17 and unlike any normal teenager going out to celebrate with friends, I spent my birthday in isolation at the ICU of the hospital (not exactly the way any 17 year old would imagine spending their birthday….). I’ve created this BLOG called “Life at 15%” because I want people to know what it really is like to be living on the edge of life and also to support people going through a similar situation. Recently I was told I suffer from Heart Failure and the medical term for my condition is Dilated Cardiomyopathy also known as DCM. 

Dilated Cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood efficiently. In fact, my heart was pumping at 15% Ejection Fraction rate. The average Ejection Fraction rate of a human being is between 50-70%, this meant that I was pumping around a quarter of the blood around my body compared to a normal person. A person who suffers from Dilated Cardiomyopathy often suffers from the following symptoms -

* Shortness of breath 

* Lack of energy 

* Pulmonary edema  

* Most importantly an enlarged heart which then leads to weakening of the heart muscles.

Most people who suffer from Dilated Cardiomyopathy don't show many symptoms and their body learns how to adapt to the low Ejection Fraction, this is one of the main reasons why people usually die before finding out that they suffer from this. 

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You can just imagine how much information we had to take in. I'm extremely happy that even though thing's didn't look good, everyone around me was keeping up their positive attitude. If you'd like to read from the beginning of my story you can click the button below. 

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