Hannah Hetherington, a junior communications major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at 14. This heart disease can cause chest pain and abnormal heart rhythms.
For Hetherington, the symptoms were most apparent when she played sports.
“I noticed something wasn’t right because I couldn’t even walk up a flight of stairs,” Hetherington said. “My lips and my fingernails were turning blue, and I was always cold.”
After two years on a treatment plan designed to keep her heart stable, Hetherington’s health took a turn for the worse.
Hetherington and her family visited the cardiologist at UNMC, where they learned the devastating news: she needed a heart transplant in order to live.
“The doctors told me I was in heart failure, and that I needed to be on the transplant list right away because my heart was only functioning at 5 percent,” she said.
Miraculously, Hetherington received a call that a heart was available only five days after being put on the transplant list.
“I was very lucky to have gotten it when I did,” she said.
After an emotional preparation and a six-hour surgery, Hetherington woke up in the ICU surrounded by family and doctors telling her the surgery was a success. She left the hospital ten days later, with a new heart functioning at 97 percent.
“I could feel my new heart pumping and it scared me at first,” she said. “I’ve never been able to feel a healthy heart pump before.”
Five years later, the healthy and passionate 21-year-old is an advocate speaker for Donate Life Nebraska. She speaks at high schools about the importance of organ donation and talks about her experience. She has a commercial for the organization and participates and promotes Donate Life Nebraska events.
Lisa Carmichael, the program coordinator for Donate Life Nebraska, said the event really brings people together.
“It’s one of those types of events that are really special because the donor families are able to see what is possible through organ donation,” Carmichael said.
This event allows the families of donors to see how grateful and active recipients are. The physical aspect of the event proves to families that organ donations can actually change and save lives. “Knowing that someone had lost their life and that another family was grieving was very sad,” Hetherington said. “That’s something that crosses my mind everyday, but I wouldn’t be here without them.”
Hetherington said she was very lucky to receive a new heart so quickly. Most people can spend months or even years on the transplant list.
“It’s very crucial to be an organ donor,” she said. “There are so many people out there that are waiting and some of them don’t make it.”
