 I was having trouble getting up flights of stairs and I went to my doctor and he put me right in the hospital. I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and I received a pacemaker defibrillator at that time. I did very well for a few years, but then I began to have trouble breathing again. When I visited a hilly area with my daughter, I could barely walk 20 feet before I would have to stop and catch my breath. So I knew that I was having trouble again. I went back to the doctor, was put right back in the hospital and I needed a transplant, but my insurance wouldn't cover it. So the only alternative I had was to have an LVAD, a left ventricular assistive ice implanted in my heart. They put that in and a few hours later realized that the right side of my heart was dying. So they went back in and put a ventricular assistive ice in the right side. So I'm what they consider a bivad. I had two vads in my heart which continuously pumped blood through the heart to keep it going. But I got to feeling better and stronger and so I was able to go out and do things and be with friends and even do volunteer work. So they put me on the transplant list and actually 10 days later a heart came in. And I of course burst into tears when they called me because it's such an incredible gift. The main thing is that I have this nice steady heartbeat all the time. I don't have any more rhythm yet. I love to look at the monitor when I go see the doctor. It's like it's supposed to do because it's a very strong heart. So every day I think about different things that I can do now. Like when I was in the hospital recovering from the VAD surgery or recovering from the transplant surgery. I a lot of times couldn't get up and just take a walk. And now I can do that. So I think about just the little things each day that I can do. And some of the big things like driving the car again, being able to exercise. I couldn't do any of that beforehand. My advice to people who are facing either the VAD or transplant surgery is to say yes you will have days that are totally overwhelming. But the main thing is to try to be active as soon as you can. To just walk around the halls. You don't have to go quickly. You don't have to do it all at once. You can stop every 20 feet. But get up and move. That's the main thing. I found that to be so helpful in my healing. Women need to pay attention to what's going on in their bodies. I know that for myself I put off going to the doctor way too long. I was having symptoms a long time before I went to the doctor. And so by the time I got to the doctor, they wouldn't let me go home. They put me straight in the hospital each time. So I really encourage people to listen to their bodies. We're aware of what's going on and not ignore it. Women are dying of heart disease way more than they're dying of cancer. And people need to get a handle on that. People need to realize that. Being an organ donor is the greatest gift that you can give to anyone. A young man that I know has signed up to be a donor. And he saw me right after I got home. And I said, this is what you're going to do for someone. You're going to give someone a new life. And that's what I have. There's just no greater gift. It's unbelievable. I'm going to cry again. Just every time I think of it.