Our Stories with Heart

A Mother’s Transplant Story

Ally “The Bionic Bride™” continues to be an inspiration and to help raise awareness about heart disease in women and young people. The 23-year-old Texan has beaten the odds once again by undergoing a successful heart transplant just as her life hung in the balance.

Chef Amanda de Jesus, a heart transplant recipient, and Dr. Deborah Meyers share a heart-healthy recipe for valentine brownies (only 40 calories!) during Heart Month. Don’t forget to take care of your heart!

Part 2: A mother’s story of how a heart transplant ultimately cured her progressive heart failure from the Texas Heart Institute. Kayde Wolf shares her remarkable story to help us raise awareness of how heart failure can effect anyone, even a previously healthy 21 year old. Modern treatment offers hope and you can too by being an organ donor. Organ donation is the Gift of Life.

Barbara Covington on lessons learned after her health crisis, a dissecting aorta, was successfully treated.

Alexandra Wallace for Project Heart: Keep Your Beat: No one should have to suffer from heart disease.

Nancy Napoli suffered through serious heart disease since she was a teen-ager after radiation treatments for lymphoma scarred her heart. A recent heart valve replacement at Texas Heart Institute via catheter called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI), without the need for open-heart surgery, has made her healthy again.

Kimberly Connell talks about her heart transplant journey and experience with the Texas Heart Institute.

Anne Bunting, a heart transplant patient, has had a long journey with cardiovascular disease and shares some lessons learned for other women and other heart patients.

Trasetta Terry, began noticing a loss of stamina and soon she could no longer perform even simple daily tasks. Doctors were baffled until her doctor diagnosed an unusual and serious heart condition which was causing her right heart failure. Trasetta and her doctor tell her story and advise women to “know your body” and be informed about your health.

Betty Moreton has been living with heart disease for a long time, and has some advice for others. Under the care of her cardiologists from the Texas Heart Institute she was treated for atrial fibrillation. She then learned about healthy lifestyle choices, and those lessons have allowed her to continue an active, productive and happy life.

Dana was diagnosed with a heart condition at 14, and got the help she needed to recover. We are grateful to her for helping us get the word out about our student athlete screening program to prevent sudden cardiac death (SCD).

Cardiovascular disease was never on the mind of emergency room nurse Teresa Ferricher, an avid runner and active young mother. Then the unexpected happened and diagnosed with a cardiac tumor, she was referred to an expert, Dr. O. H. Bud Frazier and his team of experts at the Texas Heart Institute. After a successful surgery, she suffered a heart attack and was supported with a venticular assist device (VAD) while her heart recovered enough that she was able to avoid having a heart transplant. She now enjoys good health and shares her story to remind women (and men!) to be knowledgable about heart health, to listen to their bodies and to not ignore warning signs that something may be wrong with one’s health.

Comparative Anatomy of the Heart

Texas Heart Institute invites you to observe National Donate Life Month (April) with us as heart transplant recipient Kayde Wolf talks about her Gift of Life.