Nataly Paramó was preparing to celebrate her 15th birthday in October when she experienced unexpected and alarming fatigue during basketball tryouts.

The teen from East Chicago, Indiana, had always been active and loved basketball. So when she couldn’t run a single lap around the gym, a specialist recommended she go to the emergency room at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, said Steve Pophal, the hospital’s medical director of heart transplantation.

There, doctors discovered her heart was enlarged and weakened, Pophal said.

“Then we were not planning a birthday party — we were planning how to make her heart feel better,” said Paramó’s mother, Juana Ortiz. “I was scared. Looking at her before and seeing her like a normal teenager, and not knowing that was going on with her heart, I felt guilty.”

Despite more than a month of intensive care, doctors were unable to repair her heart and ultimately determined she needed a transplant, Pophal said.

In December, Nataly became the hospital’s first pediatric heart transplant patient, following a three-year effort to establish the new program, Advocate said in a news release.

The hospital has performed three heart transplants since December, the release said.

“She had a stress test and she ran over 30 laps on the treadmill,” Pophal said.

Advocate has increasingly cared for a growing number of patients in need of heart transplants, said Frank Belmonte, interim president of Advocate Children’s Hospital. However, for years, many children were referred outside the system, forcing them to leave behind their familiar surroundings and trusted care teams, he said.

“We know, from both a clinical standpoint as well as an emotional one, how important it is that families remain close to home and children are followed by a consistent care team throughout their treatment,” Belmonte said. “We saw the need of this lifesaving care, and we answered that call.”

Michael Earing, division director of pediatric cardiology at Advocate, said the hospital, a leading pediatric provider in the Midwest, is one of only two hospitals in the region with congenital heart facilities for treating children. Before the launch of the pediatric heart transplant program, Advocate had to refer patients to Lurie Children’s Hospital or other children’s hospitals in Wisconsin and Michigan, Earing said.

The hospital’s program was certified by the United Network for Organ Sharing in 2023, Advocate said in a news release. The certification also allows Advocate to offer patients ventricular assist devices, which are mechanical heart pumps that can help children as they wait for a new heart or to help their heart recover, the hospital said.

The program is the result of years of planning by the Chicagoland Children’s Health Alliance, a partnership between Advocate Children’s Hospital, UChicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital and Endeavor Health, the release said. The alliance performs more than 500 heart surgeries each year and have treated more than 15,000 heart patients, Advocate said.

After the transplant, patients need to be extra cautious about catching certain diseases or illnesses, said Luca Vricella, division director of pediatric cardiac surgery. However, over time, Nataly can look forward to resuming life as a normal teenager, including returning to playing basketball.

“That’s the whole goal, is to restore normality,” Vricella said.

Advocate’s pediatric heart transplant team consists of experts in intensive care, pediatric cardiac anesthesia, nutrition, electrophysiology, social work, psychology, pharmacy and other specialties to serve the child’s needs at each step of the transplantation process, Advocate said. The hospital also provides family-centered care so everyone is part of the child’s treatment plan and has access to support programs before and after surgery, the hospital said.

Nataly’s transplant was on Dec. 4, and she was home before Christmas, Belmonte said.

Although the transplant was the first performed under the hospital’s new program, Vricella said the procedure went smoothly, with the team working together seamlessly, like an “orchestra.”

Nataly’s mom, Ortiz, said throughout the procedure, Nataly’s care team became like family. At the announcement of the launch of the pediatric heart transplant program, Advocate presented Nataly with a framed photo of her alongside her care team.

Advocate Children’s new program follows in the footsteps of the heart transplant program that’s been in place at Lurie Children’s since 1988. Lurie Children’s has long been the sole pediatric heart transplant program in Illinois.

“There’s really nothing like heart transplantation,” Vricella said. “My colleagues and I have done many, many heart transplants, and they can guarantee you that there’s nothing as just shocking, fulfilling and rewarding, such as taking a heart from a bucket of ice, putting in somebody’s chest see that heart beating again and changing the quality of life.”

smoilanen@chicagotribune.com