One family’s grief makes way for giving and gratitude in the life of another family, and it is so impactful. Thanks to God and a family’s gracious donations, a little girl gets a life-saving heart transplant after years of waiting. Play the video to hear the incredible story.
"We waited for this heart for 1,025 days,” said the mom of 4-year-old Arctura Nowak, a little girl who was born with a dangerously large heart.
After she had the transplant, her mom said she felt like she could breathe for the first time in over 3 years, when they first learned she would need a transplant.
“It was like a birth,” the mom said. “It was amazing.”
Arctura’s right atrium valve in her heart was the size of the rest of her heart. Her heart spanned from one side of her rib cage to the other, so all of her other organs’ functions were compromised. Doctors had to watch her liver, kidneys, and lungs especially.
After waiting most of her life for a new heart, Arctura’s mother is so grateful that her daughter can now be a normal little girl and do things she hasn’t gotten to do yet.
A Mother's Gratitude Turns a Life-Saving Gift Into a Promise of Hope
Her mom said, “I've had so many people say that ‘Oh, there it is, such mixed emotions. It's so hard. You must feel so much grief for the family who lost their child,’ and while I can see where they're coming from, the word is not grief; it is gratitude, and my responsibility is not to grieve with them but to do exactly as they had hoped, which is to live and fulfill that privilege that I have to raise her and let her experience every joy that can be felt.”
She doesn’t aim to take her daughter to Disney World or National Parks; she wants her to have the privilege to do simple things like let her feel the grass and watch the clouds.
Arctura’s parents have never taken a moment with her for granted. And now that she has a normal-sized heart, each beat it makes holds so much joy.
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