I'm Part Boy

Why am I part boy you ask? That is very simple to explain. Nope I haven't had a sex change opperation or anything like that. You see, I was born with heart problems. I was born with an enlarged VSD with pulomary hypertention. That basically means that I had a hole in my heart. This made it so that my heart was so big that it laid on my lungs and crushed them. With crushed lungs, I wasn't able to get proper oxygen through out my body. With all of this going on, I wasn't supposed to live to be 2 weeks old. One of my hobbies in life is to prove my doctors wrong. I am now 25 years old.

Since I was unable to get oxygen through out my body, my complexion was blue, and I was real thin. I didn't have energy to do hardly anything. I was happy laying on the couch watching tv. This is a picture of me that was taken two weeks before my transplant. See how thin and blue I was

Don't worry I was still able to go to school and never failed a class or was held back, even though I probably should have been. There were many times that I was sick and in the hospital. My teachers were real understanding and did everything they could to help me get along. One of the good things about being sick and not having engery was that I didn't have to be in gym class. I hated gym!

On Septeber 11th, 1991 my life was saved by the loving family of an eight year old boy who had died. His family gave me the wonderful gift of life by donating thier son's organs. I received the boy's heart and lungs. Therefore, I say that I am part boy since the organs came from a boy.

After the transplant, my complexion quickly turned pink! I was so surprised to see my pink lips. Because I had only seen my lips purple, I thought I had lipstick on. And now a picture of me after transplant. I think this was taken a couple weeks after. Although I am still thin in this picture, the wondeful part is that I am pink!!

I'm so thankful that I had the transplant! I have so much more energy now and can do anything I want. And I'm healthy. Now this dosen't mean that I don't have set backs and problems, just means that I'm healthier than I was sick.

The pics below will show you what my old organs looked like. If you are squeemish at all you may not want to look.

The picture above is to show the size of my heart. The hand on the left is my father's hand, and the hand on the right is mine. A persons heart is supposed to be the size of the person's fist. So in this picture you can see how much bigger my heart was compared to what it should have been.

The next picture is just to show what the organs look like. We've always thought that the lungs steak! LOL

If you have any questions at all about the transplant please do no hesitate to ask. I love talking about it cause that is one way that people will learn. So feel free to ask!