 In my mind, even though I was getting sicker, I was denying a lot of it because I didn't want to take away from somebody who needed it worse than me. Little did I know that I was that person and it took quite some time and the symptoms to come back and the medicine on the IV to quit working and to give me those symptoms to realize that I needed to be in the hospital. There was no way that I could continue functioning at home without some help. And quickly after Dr. Boe gave came in the room and said, it's yours. And I remember asking her, am I still on the list, am I still a match or is it my heart? And she said, you have this heart. It is yours. It is 100 percent your number one, you know, you're getting hard today. And I remember Carter coming into the room and I remember getting to see him and tell him I love him and my family, most everybody was coming in. My brothers and my mom and dad and my husband Kevin were already there but everybody else was starting to kind of trickle in to see me before surgery. And I got to say hi to everybody and just know that they were there supporting me and starting the recovery process, knowing that I'm alive. My fingers and toes are warm, they hadn't been warm in a while and being able to breathe, I could lay down and breathe and that was unbelievable and couldn't automatically feel my heartbeat that I had felt for months and months and months. That was a good feeling to not feel your heartbeat which sounds absolutely crazy but it was a wonderful feeling to not sit there and count your heartbeats and wonder, am I going to feel VTAC, you know, have that fear to just know that it was success. At that moment, you know, several hours later the surgery was a success. Staff up there is amazing and they work specifically with, you know, transplant patients and LVAD patients upon patients and you get to meet so many people in your same situation and that was extremely inspiring to see other patients going through what you're going through at the same time and getting to know them and then you get to the point where you're doing so well that you get to be discharged and you get to ring the bell again. It's the next step and I remember walking out of floor 12 and getting to elevators and ringing the bell and having all of the staff there applauding and so supportive and so excited and rewarded that you get to go home. You're being cared for by the ICU nurses and they truly become family. My room was a little, especially, I was a little spoiled by all of my friends and family that my room was decorated and there was always goodies for nurses and things like that but to truly see the love and the support of these nurses who are caring for you is unbelievable and they are people who have touched my life and will be part of my life forever. A young lady who doesn't expect heart problems in your 20s, they were not genetic, they were not something I was prepared and knew was coming, you know, as a child growing into an adult and it was a very quick problem that occurred, it was something that a virus, a random virus, you know, attacked that heart muscle and weakened it hard enough to where I eventually needed a heart transplant. I would say listen to your body. As a woman, we are so specific and so in tuned to so many things but we try to deny what we're feeling sometimes to hide because you're supposed to be the strong one, you're supposed to be the one to keep everybody organized and keep everybody situated and I would just say listen to your body, listen to your symptoms. You know, even though I wasn't an athlete and being at least an active person, this isn't something I first saw or could have prevented. This is something that naturally occurred in my body and something that you need to recognize and seek help because you can be the healthiest person in the whole entire world, you can eat zero fried foods and low sodium diet all your life just thinking I might have this and it can still happen to you. So make sure that you are aware of what's out there and educated on heart disease. It's the number one killer of women and people don't get checks on their hearts all the time like they do for cancers and colonoscopies and things like that. So it's never too early and it's never too late as well. I feel for excited that hopefully this is the right track to where you should never see an issue and go on and live your life without the fear of having that heart failure anymore. You have a new life, you've been giving a new life by an amazing family and an amazing person who decided that it was important to be a donor and to give somebody the gift of life.