Fundraiser planned for mother of 5 in need of heart transplant

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While Stephanie Brown Garcia waits anxiously for the call from her doctors, her friends are doing what they can to make sure she can focus on her surgery and recovery.

Doctors first diagnosed Garcia with dilated cardiomyopathy in 2004. They placed the mother of five on the transplant list last year, after they told her she had end stage heart failure. Her good friend Tami Hoover has spearheaded efforts to raise about $250,000 she’ll need following her upcoming heart transplant.

WATCH: Mom needs new heart

“If Tami hadn't done what she did I wouldn't have anything. I'm just real grateful for everybody and for being here. You know every day that you are on this side of the earth is a good day,” Garcia told FOX 5’s Deidra Dukes.

“When she got to the point where the doctors said she needed a heart transplant of course we knew it was going to be a huge financial burden. She took a minute to consider it and I and the rest of the family said ‘No, Stephanie you have to do this,’” said event organizer Tammy Hoover.

The money being raised on Garcia’s behalf will help pay medical expenses not covered by Garcia’s insurance during the lengthy recovery process.

Hoover and Garcia have known each other since middle school. They reconnected as adults, after realizing they both lived in Henry County.

Garcia’s turning 50 in a few weeks and her friends will throw her a big birthday bash, a fundraising benefit concert on April second in Hampton, the day before her birthday.

“It makes you feel good to know people think of you that much that people will do something like that for you. That's so nice,” she said.

For more information on Stephanie's Rockin' 50th Birthday Benefit Concert or to purchase tickets online visit: http://bit.ly/rockin50thbirthday

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