Gabriel

As told by Gabriel’s mother Lisa Pregnant with our first child, I learned that my unborn son would be born with a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and would need a heart transplant immediately following his birth in order to survive. Not knowing what this meant, I struggled to make sense of all […]

Kacey

On April 20, 1999, Kacey was one of several high school students involved in the tragic shootings that took place at Columbine High School. Kacey is a survivor, but had severe damage to her right hand, arm and shoulder as a result of a single shotgun blast. Kacey sustained injuries during the Columbine shootings that […]

Steve

In December of 1995, Steve went to see his doctor after feeling extremely ill. Early in the New Year, he was diagnosed with not one but several chronic conditions—lupus, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis and recurring asthma. Before these medical tests, Steve was unaware that he had been born with only one kidney. Lupus was […]

Bill

On December 5, 2009, Bill had a “widow-maker” heart attack. But Bill didn’t think that’s what was happening. If it had been a heart attack, he would have died, he thought. But five days later when he finally went to the emergency room, doctors told Bill that he had suffered a massive heart attack and […]

Judy

Before Judy found out she needed a transplant, she lived an active, healthy and normal life. Judy grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and attended the University of Illinois. She wanted to be a teacher, but when she had trouble finding a full-time teaching position she became a flight attendant instead and enjoyed traveling […]

Connor

When Connor’s mom took her three-month-old son to the doctor for a cold, she learned that Connor had a condition called cardiomyopathy, a deadly heart disease that could only be remedied by a heart transplant. Connor spent nine weeks on the waiting list and received a transplant on Mother’s Day in 1992. Ten years passed […]