Oceanside Woman with Rare Heart Condition Seeks Public Help

An Oceanside woman is seeking help paying $2,000 a month for medication to treat her autism and a rare cardiac condition.

Kaitlin Bloomer suffers from postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS—which keeps her body from regulating her heart rate.

A normal heart beats 60 to 100 times a minute. Hers drops to as low as 50 a minute with little warning, said her mother, Marilyn Simmons-Bloomer.

The result is dangerous for Kaitlin.

“I pass out,” she said. “I can’t keep my eyes open.”

In addition, Kaitlin—who studies science and Japanese at Palomar College—has difficulty communicating and interacting with others because of her autism.

She constantly wears headphones and listens to Japanese pop music that drowns out ambient noise and ultimately keeps her calm.

Even at her most tranquil, though, her heart could be racing up to 200 beats per minute and her mother is worried what would happen if she didn't take her pills. 

She's been on medication since she was a toddler with no major interruptions, Marilyn said. Kaitlin remembers missing some of the medication for a week once.

“I was shaking—jittery, constantly jittery,” she said. “It was just withdrawal. It was constant.”

Kaitlin had Tricare military insurance because her father is a full-time National Guard soldier living in Utah.  Marilyn—who also is a student at Palomar College and lives off of financial aid payments—is divorced and unable to afford fees required to switch Kaitlin to a young adult plan when she turned 24 three weeks ago, Marilyn said.

She has about three weeks of pills left. 

Kaitlin and Marilyn—who share a studio apartment in Crown Heights—filed appeals with Social Security for benefits but don’t qualify for MediCal, Marilyn said. A Tricare official told Patch that representatives have assisted the family in exploring their options. 

Simmons-Bloomer can be reached at mbloomer1212@hotmail.com. 

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