Mum pens emotional letter to organ donor after she received a life-saving heart transplant last Christmas - meaning she could spend this festive season with her new baby - video Dailymotion

Real Fix

Credit: SWNS / Nicolette Somers  A mum has penned an emotional letter to the organ donor who gave her 'the best gift ever' of a heart transplant just days before Christmas - to enable her to enjoy her first festivities with her new baby.  Nicolette Somers, 30, was diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) - a rare form of congestive heart failure associated with pregnancy – in October 2020, three months after her son Beckett, now one, was born.    Although doctors initially hoped they’d be able to treat Nicolette for the condition, she was eventually told she would need a heart transplant – or she would risk missing her newborn son grow up.

Transcript

00:00 Being a heart donor recipient has taught me that life is very precious.

00:04 I wouldn't trade any of it for a second.

00:07 Hi, my name is Nikki and I am a heart donor recipient.

00:15 In July of 2020, I had my son.

00:17 The first month went really well and in the second month after I had him,

00:21 I started to notice some really weird symptoms.

00:24 I noticed I was gaining weight even though I was exercising and eating well.

00:29 I was having trouble breathing and then it got to the point where I was just sitting

00:33 on the couch and I couldn't breathe.

00:35 I couldn't do anything and I knew something was wrong.

00:37 I couldn't get up.

00:39 I couldn't even pick up my son.

00:41 Holding him if he started to squirm was just a lot.

00:44 It was just basically you feel like your body's giving up on you.

00:48 So I went to the hospital.

00:49 I was there for five days.

00:50 They diagnosed me with heart failure.

00:52 They ran more tests to figure out why I was in heart failure

00:55 and then I was eventually diagnosed with it's called peripartum cardiomyopathy,

01:01 which is a heart failure brought on solely by pregnancy.

01:04 It can happen in the last month of pregnancy up to six months postpartum

01:08 and the reason it's not being diagnosed so often is because the symptoms are very similar to just

01:14 normal postpartum symptoms.

01:16 The difference is that they just they progressively get worse instead of getting better.

01:20 So when I was diagnosed, I remember the doctor telling me he said

01:24 last resort would be you need a heart transplant.

01:26 I don't see that happening.

01:27 So they actually tried medication first,

01:31 but my symptoms had gone on for too long and my heart was just too far gone to be saved with

01:35 medication.

01:36 So I was ended up at a different hospital and at Henry Ford and they,

01:41 I was tested and evaluated for heart transplant and they were estimating about 11 months before

01:46 I'd get a heart and nine days later got the call.

01:51 She was like, "Um, we have a heart."

01:53 And I was like, "Wait, what?"

01:54 I knew deep down I didn't have that much time.

01:58 I actually didn't think I was going to be here this Christmas.

02:02 It was scary, but like I knew it was supposed to happen.

02:06 I knew that heart was meant for me.

02:09 So the surgeon actually came and saw me when I woke up and he said that

02:13 before they did the surgery, he actually ran some more tests on my heart and he was like,

02:17 "You did not have a lot of mileage left."

02:19 So that right there like confirmed it.

02:21 This was just meant to be mine.

02:22 It was a very weird feeling afterwards because like I had this new chance at life and all I

02:32 want to do is just enjoy every second of it.

02:35 I mean, you hear people say all the time, you know, enjoy life.

02:37 It's so short and I don't think you actually realize it until something severe actually

02:40 happens to you.

02:41 So all I want to do is just get home to him, start making memories, give him the most amazing

02:46 life I could.

02:46 But it was very conflicting also because I had this second chance at life, but because I do,

02:52 it meant that some other family was suffering right now because they just lost a loved one.

02:56 It was a happy moment, but also like a weird moment.

02:58 And then when I was in the hospital after my transplant, all the new nurses that I saw and

03:03 stuff, everyone was like, "Oh, congratulations.

03:05 It's amazing."

03:06 And I didn't like being congratulated just because of that feeling.

03:09 It was very conflicting.

03:10 I always just said, "Thank you."

03:12 But it was weird to be congratulated.

03:15 To my donor, whoever you may be, I just wanted you and your loved ones to know how eternally

03:20 grateful I am.

03:21 Because of your selfless act to become an organ donor, you gave the greatest gift anyone

03:26 could give.

03:26 You gave me the gift of life.

03:29 Because of you, I'm able to be in my son's life.

03:31 And I always tell him about the complete stranger who gave his mommy a new heart and saved her

03:36 life.

03:37 I think about you daily and I hope I'm making you proud.

03:42 With this second chance, I'm doing my best to spread awareness about PPCM and organ donation.

03:48 With this new heart, my goals are to give my son a wonderful life and to be an advocate

03:53 for others.

03:53 I'm hoping to get my story out there as much as I can and to help save as many lives as

03:59 I can.

04:00 Thank you for this beautiful gift.

04:02 Because of their act, my son is growing up with a mom, which is the most amazing thing.

04:10 I really hope more people sign up to do it.

04:13 Hi.

04:15 Hi.

04:17 I missed you so much.

04:19 Hi.

04:21 Hi.

04:23 Yeah, just go get it.

04:25 I did it all.

04:27 The whites are...

04:29 I missed you.

04:31 I love you.

04:33 I missed you.

04:35 I love you.

04:37 I love you.

04:39 (music fades)

04:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Mum pens emotional letter to organ donor after she received a life-saving heart transplant last Christmas - meaning she could spend this festive season with her new baby

Category

Transcript

Recommended