Woman Gets New Heart After Suffering Heart Attack At 24, Becomes Nurse To Pay It Forward

A woman from Indiana has a new heart and a second chance at life thanks to a heart transplant she received after suffering a heart attack when she was just 14 years old.

Jaelyn Kinchelow, who is now 24 years old, was running at her middle school track practice when she felt pain and tightness in her chest. Her legs then gave up and she fell to the ground.

She was rushed to the hospital, where she learned she had a heart attack and immediately went in for open-heart surgery. During the surgery, surgeons repaired a torn coronary artery wall, but she had permanent damage to her heart that would cause her issues in the future.

She didn’t let this stop her from enjoying the following years. In high school, she was in show choir and roller skating. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree, with the hopes of one day becoming a nurse so she could help others like the doctors and nurses who saved her life.

But during her last semester of nursing school, Kinchelow began to feel a shortness of breath. It took a toll on her body and prevented her from doing her daily activities.

That’s when the hospital decided to put her on the transplant list for a new heart.

Months later, she finally got the call she had been waiting for: they finally had a heart for her.

Kinchelow was overwhelmed with relief at the news that she would finally get a new heart and be able to live her life without pain or worry.

During a 12-hour surgery, doctors spent six hours removing her enlarged heart before putting in her new one.

During her recovery, she received a letter from her heart donor’s family.

“They said the family jumped through hoops to make sure they got a letter to me,” she told GMA. “That was a huge surprise and so emotional for me.”

Now that she is healthy, she plans on going back to nursing school and completing her degree.

Kinchelow hopes her story will raise awareness about organ donation and the risk of heart disease among women, and encourage others to become donors themselves.

Hear her story in the video below:

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