The greatest gift

CUMBERLAND, Wis. — When the calendar page turned last January to 2025, the Anderson family worried they were facing another year of uncertainty and fear. Little did they know that in a matter of days, their family would be blessed with the greatest gift that could be given.

The 2025 New Year’s holiday at Jamie and Tamala Anderson’s home near Cumberland was spent making preparations and praying. Their then-12-year-old daughter, Lexi, was set to check into the Milwaukee Campus of Children’s Wisconsin Jan. 5, 2025, where she would wait for a donated heart that could give her back her own life.

Prayers were answered, and just over two weeks later, Jan. 21, 2025, Lexi received her new heart.

“I still feel like we need to pinch ourselves,” Tamala said. “When you look at where we were a year ago — we were headed down there with the uncertainty of what was going to happen. Then before we knew it, she had her transplant and we walked out of there 15 days after that, and here we are a year later. It still seems surreal.”

The Andersons learned of the rare genetic condition that plagued Lexi’s heart when she began struggling during her basketball games in fall 2023.

Lexi had restrictive cardiomyopathy, which was causing her heart muscle to harden. No treatment for the disease exists, outside of a heart transplant.

Throughout 2024, the Andersons worried about their daughter’s deteriorating health, watching their once active, vibrant child struggle. Countless trips were made between their Barron County home and the hospital in Milwaukee.

Lexi was limited in her favorite activities. She was forced to sit out the sports seasons, watching her friends from the sidelines. She struggled to exhibit her animals at various shows, with her cousins waiting in the wings, ready to assist her if she needed to stop.

Tamala’s parents, Roger and Darice Riebe, operate Meadow-Ridge Jerseys near Cumberland, where they milk 100 registered Jerseys with their sons, Mike and Mark. Although Tamala and Jamie are not directly involved with the day-to-day operations of the farm, they have raised their daughters as a part of the family farm. Lexi has grown up showing Jerseys alongside her sisters and her cousins.

Lexi had to remain within six hours of the Milwaukee hospital in the event a heart became available. That kept her from joining her grandparents to exhibit the family’s Jerseys at one of her favorite shows in Louisville, Kentucky.

“My cow friends would tell me all about what they were doing and everything,” Lexi said. “And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I really wish I was there right now.’ It was the same thing with softball and volleyball. All my friends were playing, and I had nothing to do.”

The prospect of checking into the hospital for an indefinite amount of time was daunting, but Lexi said knowing so many people cared about her, and were praying for her, helped.

“While I was in the hospital, people from all over were sending me things to help keep me busy,” Lexi said. “The World Jersey Conference was held in Australia last January and Jersey people sent me postcards and stuff from Australia.”

That small-town sense of community helped Jamie and Tamala stay grounded, too.

“We really felt it, there was lots of love for her,” Tamala said. “It helped a lot, from the benefits that were held, to the gifts and prayers that were sent, to the food people brought when we came home. It all made such a huge difference in our lives, (and) it still does.”

While Lexi’s parents feared the unknown, fear did not set in for Lexi until the news of her new heart came.

“I wasn’t scared until they told me that night that it was going to happen,” Lexi said. “All of a sudden, it was real, and it hit me that I was actually getting put under. I’d only ever been put under once before that. I thought it would be super-duper painful, but it wasn’t like I expected.”

The Andersons have learned to deal with their fears over the past year.

“When I got home, I was afraid,” Lexi said. “I didn’t want anything bad to happen, like if I tripped and fell and then did something wrong, and then I would have to go back.”

While she was welcomed home to banners and a decorated house, Lexi’s isolation continued for the first few months. When her friends were able to visit, they had to wear masks and maintain a 6-foot-distance.

Tamala said the first few weeks at home were among the hardest for her. She said her fears were not allayed, only changed.

“I’m jumpy, afraid every little thing could be a sign of rejection,” Tamala said. “Every time she gets sick, I ask if her calves hurt. That’s a telltale sign you’re having heart issues. Or if she runs a fever, I start worrying because that can be a sign.”

Because of the risk of rejection, Lexi is on an extensive regimen of medications — 19 pills a day, three days a week; 18 pills a day on the other four. Her visits back to Children’s Wisconsin started on a  weekly basis and have weaned down to monthly. Positive test results at her 12-month evaluation will result in bimonthly visits and a slight reduction in medications.

Lexi was able to begin this school year attending in-person, and she joined her teammates playing softball throughout the summer and volleyball in the fall. She also said she has enjoyed trying barrel racing through the Barron County 4-H horse project.

Lexi was able to pack her bags and travel some, too. First, she ventured to Louisville, where she exhibited the intermediate champion of the All-American Junior Jersey Show which she said is one of her most exciting memories. Her New Year’s celebrations were different this year, too. She traveled to New York City with the family of one of her friends.

Jamie is appreciative of the healing Lexi has had.

“They said they do an average of one transplant a month there,” Jamie said. “But then there are so many kids not needing transplants, just numerous surgeries, over and over and over again. ... It’s pretty humbling, just walking down the halls of that place. There are so many kids, not doing as well as Lexi, and it makes you realize, it could be a whole lot worse.”