Courtesy photo
Windy Mandardo, 52, of Coeur d'Alene, in her room at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane on July 7, 2025 — the day before her heart transplant.
December 25, 2025
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December 25, 2025 1:10 a.m.
THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: The wait for Windy’s heart — Diagnosed with cardiac sarcoidosis, Windy Manzardo of Coeur d’Alene went through a lot before her heart transplant
She waited for the electrophysiology doctor, who was in the lab at the time. “When he came out I showed him the EKG and he was like, 'What the heck, who’s that?’ ‘It was me.’ “He’s like, well, this is not good. You need to go to the emergency room right now.” Windy said she felt OK, a little sweaty, but wasn’t feeling like she was going to pass out. "So I went to the emergency room and checked myself in and that was the start of a really crappy deal.”